Dhoni, Sachin in ESPNCricinfo's India all-time XI

New Delhi:

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, dashing opener Virender Sehwag and the ever-reliable duo of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are the four current players who have made it to ESPNcricinfo's India all-time XI.

Seven members of the 11-person jury picked Dhoni, over the likes of Syed Kirmani and Kiran More, for the advantage his superior batting gives him.

Four players - Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Vinoo Mankad - were unanimous picks, voted in by all members of the jury into the XI.

The number five spot divided the jury the most, and Vijay Hazare, who played only eight innings in that position (one of them in the Adelaide Test of 1948, where he made two centuries), was preferred over the likes of Gundappa Viswanath, MAK Pataudi, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath and VVS Laxman.

Virender Sehwag (10 votes) and Gavaskar were picked for the opening slot, while the presence of Dravid (nine votes) and Tendulkar at numbers three and four makes India's the only batting line-up among the eight leading countries for which ESPNcricinfo has picked all-time XIs to have over 42,000 Test runs between the top four.

Only one bowler from India's spin quartet of the 70s makes it to the XI. Offspinner Erapalli Prasanna, with 189 wickets from 49 Tests, joins Anil Kumble (nine votes), Javagal Srinath and Kapil to form India's bowling line-up.

Allrounder Mankad, who took 162 wickets at 32.32 with his slow left-armers, completes the spin-dominated attack.

Among the notable omissions who did not make it to the XIs of any of the jury were former captain Mohammad Azharuddin; Bishan Bedi, perhaps the most highly rated of the spin quartet; and wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer.

The XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Erapalli Prasanna.