In a recent development, Australian cricket team spinner Ashton Agar picked his all-time World XI on the YouTube channel of Lord’s Cricket Ground and it includes two legendary Indian players- Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Apart from that his XI also included a player each from India’s neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka. While Agar picked former Australian opener, Justin Langer, to open the innings along with ‘one of the most entertaining player’ Sehwag, he picked Ricky Ponting as the skipper of his team and placed him at number 3.
“He is my favorite cricketer of all-time. He looked to hit the ball from ball one and probably the most entertaining player to play the game,” Agar said.
“I’ll have Ricky Ponting at number three and he will be the captain as well. He was always the captain of the great Australian team, so I got to watch as a kid, and he’s probably Australia’s greatest ever batsman,” he added.
The middle-order of Agar’s all-time World XI features Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Viv Richards and Adam Gilchrist, the last of whom will also doubles up as the wicketkeeper of the team. While the Agar has picked Rangana Herath and Shane Warne as the two spinners in his team, he chose Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee as the pacers.
“Supreme control, someone who didn’t get to play as much Test cricket as he should have because of Muttiah Muralitharan. Herath’s longevity is amazing, and he is just mastered his craft, and I respect him,” Agar said.
“Being a left-arm spinner I try to take things out of his bowling. Great accuracy, changes of pace, and angles and all. He is a pleasure to watch,” he added.
Ashton Agar XI: Virender Sehwag, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting (c), Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brett Lee, Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar, Rangana Herath