Three Indians In Former Pakistan Spinner's T20 XI Of 2021, No Place For Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria picked his T20 team of 2021. There were three Indian cricketers in Kaneria's XI but surprisingly there was no place for Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. Kaneria picked three players from Pakistan, two each from England and Australia and one player from New Zealand in his team. The former cricketer chose Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan as the openers of his side.

“Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are my openers. Both of them have displayed brilliant performances. They were outstanding in the T20 World Cup. They were good in the recent series against West Indies. Rizwan has batted extraordinarily,” Kaneria said in his YouTube channel.

The former leg-spinner said people may disagree but he would go with England's Jos Buttler's as his No.3.

“People would say go for Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul at one down but no, I have a different opinion here. I would go with Jos Buttler. It may appear that my team is dominated by wicketkeepers but their batting is so impactful that they can demolish any bowling attack,” he said.

Kaneria threw a couple of surprises more when he picked Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as his No.4 batter followed by England's Liam Livingstone at five.  

“I have picked Marsh because he is an impact player. He builds an innings. He played some very crucial knocks for Australia in the T20 World Cup.

“When he (Liam Livingstone) makes good connection, the ball generally lands in the stands. He can be a future star. He bowls leg-spin that can be useful in the middle,” he said.

Kaneria then went to praise India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and added that he would be his spin-bowing all-rounder.

“There was Shakib (Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh) but I have gone with the man from Gujarat. I always call him the tiger of Gujarat. Whether it is batting, bowling or fielding, he always puts in match-winning performances,” he said.

The bowling department of Kaneria's team was dominated by players from India and Pakistan. Kaneria picked Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent  Boult and Ravichandran Ashwin.

India's Rishabh Pant was picked as the 12^th man of his side.

Danish Kaneria's T20 team of 2021: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mitchell Marsh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Shaheen Afridi, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Zampa, Rishabh Pant (12th Man)

Topics mentioned in this article

Danish Kaneria Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Babar Azam Mohammad Rizwan Ravindra Jadeja Pakistan Cricket Team India Cricket Team Cricket