Rohit Sharma failed miserably in 2nd Test (Source:AP Photos)
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is up and running in style with series levelled at 1-1 and the anticipation for the rest of the battle increasing with each passing day. Over the years, there have been plenty of intense affairs between the two teams and the quality of cricket is always pretty high which speaks a lot about the talent in both the teams.
Therefore, picking a combined XI of both the nations has always a difficult task, and over the years many big players have tried their hand and have picked interesting XIs. Now, Michael Clarke, the former Australian captain who led them to a title win in the 2015 World Cup has revealed his combined India-Australia Test XI.
Clarke has named Virender Sehwag and Matthew Hayden as openers. Both were aggressive and consistent performers at the Test level, and have triple century to their name. At number 3 is Ricky Ponting, one of the most successful captains in the world and one of the best during his time.
No Place For Indian Trio Of Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman
At number 4 is none other than Sachin Tendulkar, while the number five and number six positions are taken by modern day greats like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. Interestingly, there is no place for Rohit Sharma and rightly so, he has not lived upto his billing in Test format. The greats like VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly are also not included in the XI.
He has picked Adam Gilchrist for Australian conditions and MS Dhoni for Indian conditions. The bowling group has only one Indian and it is Jasprit Bumrah. There is no Indian spinner like Ashwin, Kumble as he has included the great Shane Warne.
The two seamers alongside Jasprit Bumrah are Ryan Harris and Glenn McGrath while Mitchell Johnson and Zaheer Khan are 12th man according to the conditions.
Michael Clarke's Combined India-Australia XI For Test Cricket
Virender Sehwag, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Sachin, Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Adam Gilchrist(in Aus)/Dhoni (in Ind), Shane Warne, Ryan Harris, Jasprit Bumrah, Glenn McGrath.