Former India men’s cricket team batting coach Sanjay Bangar picked his World Test XI among current cricketers. While Bangar gave place to a retired David Warner, he did not pick an in-form England batter Joe Root and Australia’s Steve Smith.
On Rao Podcast, he picked a team with seven Indian players. Alongside Warner, Rohit Sharma is the opener in the team. He is followed by Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli. Rishabh Pant is the designated wicketkeeper-batter of the team. While Ben Stokes is the fast-bowling all-rounder, two spin all-rounders in the side are Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The three fast bowlers in the World Test XI are India's Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami followed by Australia's Josh Hazlewood.
Bangar's World Test XI -
Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Josh Hazlewood.
Notable absentees
Three highest run-scorer of WTC history, Root, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne and Smith were not picked in the World Test XI. Root is by far the leading run-scorer in WTC with 4,702 runs from 56 Tests at an average of 50.55 including 14 centuries and 20 fifties. Warner has scored a little over half of Root has in WTC.
Apart from India, only three overseas team players made the cut. Australia are the only side with two players in Bangar’s World Test XI.
Similarly, two of the highest wicket-takers in WTC were not named in Bangar's World Test XI. Nathan Lyon has 187 wickets from 43 Tests whereas Australia skipper Pat Cummins has 175 wickets from 42 Tests. Other notable absentees are Mitchell Starc.
No player from South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh were picked either by the 51-year-old. Kagiso Rabada and Tim Southee are sixth and seventh in the list of leading wicket-takers with 123 and 116 wickets respectively.
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