Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has chosen his All-time XI with only two of the current players making the cut. There are three Indians in the line-up with one big omission.
Vettori, who was Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) coach during the Indian Premier League (IPL), has picked Virat Kohli as the captain of his All-time XI.
The former Kiwi left-arm spinner has closely watched Kohli at RCB franchise. The Delhi right-hander is RCB skipper. Yesterday (October 22), Kohli hit his 31st ODI ton to move to second place in all-time century makers list behind Sachin Tendulkar (49).
When Vettori made his choices for the All-time XI, as announced on Lord's Cricket Ground's Facebook page, he gave reasons for installing Kohli as the leader.
"Virat Kohli, I have seen him up close for a long time now and nothing but impressed by the way he plays, the passion thathe has for winning, I think, would pervade the whole team. I mean they would win anyway but it would be nice to have him in charge," the 38-year-old explained.
The other two Indians in Vettori's team are Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Vettori, who took 362 Test wickets from 113 matches, said Dravid was the "hardest" batsman he bowled to.
"Dravid was the hardest batsman I ever bowled to. His ability to pick up lenghth was amazing," the Kiwi veteran said.
The big name missing from Vettori's XI is MS Dhoni. Australian Adam Gilchrist is the wicketkeeper in the team. Vettori also admitted that it was "ridiculous" for him to put former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis as 12th man.
Here is Vettori's All-time XI
1. Ricky Ponting (Australia)
2. Rahul Dravid (India)
3. Virat Kohli (India) (Captain)
4. AB de Villiers (South Africa)
5. Sachin Tendulkar (India)
6. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia) (Wicketkeeper)
8. Shane Warne (Australia)
9. Muttaiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
10. Glenn McGrath (Australia)
11. Richard Hadlee (New Zealand)
12. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) (Sub)
