Koi Kohli, Root in United India-England XI in the last 25 years

Former England cricketers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton had a tough time in picking a combined India-England playing XI from the last 25 years. Some notable exclusions from the line-up were that of modern greats Virat Kohli and England’s highest run-getter in Tests Joe Root. Nasser and Atherton were tasked to pick the XI consisting of 5 Indians and England players each and one other player who could be from either of the countries on Sky Sports.

Ex-England stars’ combined IND-ENG XI

Virender Sehwag
Alastair Cook
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Kevin Pietersen
Ben Stokes (C)
Rishabh Pant
Ravichandran Ashwin
James Anderson
Jasprit Bumrah
Stuart Broad

Hussain and Atherton decided to go for the explosive Sehwag and the classy Cook as the openers. While there was a brief discussion about Rohit Sharma, the duo decided that the best combo would be the aggressive Sehwag and the calm & composed Cook.

The former England stars opted for ex-India cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid, who is India’s 2nd highest run-getter in Tests with 13265 runs to his name, as their number 3 batter.

At number 4 came the duo’s non-negotiable choice – Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. To date, the ‘God of Cricket’ is the highest run-getters in Tests in the world, with 15921 runs to his name. No active cricketer, apart from Joe Root, is anywhere close to Tendulkar’s record at the moment.

At number five is Kevin Pietersen followed by Ben Stokes, who was also named as the captain of this combined XI. The duo deliberated between Rishabh Pant, Matt Prior, and MS Dhoni as their keeper and ended up choosing the southpaw, who also happens to be India’s vice-captain in Tests currently.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the lone spinner included in the line-up and was picked over Graeme Swann. As for the pacers, Bumrah and Anderson were dubbed as non-negotiables and automatically made it to the list. The duo debated on choosing between Zaheer Khan and Stuart Broad as the third pacer and finally decided on picking the latter.