Former Australian spinning legend Shane Warne took his time to pick the greatest Indian Test XI. To one's surprise, Warne had the names of the fab four in his mind it seems -- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VV Laxman.
The criteria that Warne followed was that all these players must have played against him once.
The opening positions were awarded to Virender Sehwag and Navjot Singh Sidhu. The most crucial batting position in the Test squad is the No. 3 slot and that went, without any doubt, to Rahul Dravid.
It was pretty obvious that the No. 4 position would go to none other than Sachin Tendulkar who has amassed 15,921 runs in 200 Tests. He has also scored 51 centuries.
Warne was in a fix choosing the lower middle-order. He did not know whether to chose VVS Laxman or to go with Mohammad Azharuddin. He also added the name of MS Dhoni as the wicket-keeping batsman in the XI. Dhoni has been guarding the stumps for quite sometime now and is arguably one of the greatest finishers of the game of all time.
Legendary all-rounder and former Indian skipper Kapil Dev was another obvious choice for Warne. He played against Kapil Dev during early days of his career when the former was almost about to bid adieu to international cricket.
Spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were also Warne's first choice. Seamer Javagal Srinath also made it to the greatest Indian Test XI.
"This was the hardest team to select as I played against a few legends at the end of their careers like Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ravi Shastri, Manoj Prabhakar as well as current players like Zaheer Khan too," Warne posted on his official Facebook page.
"The Indian side I've selected is a very strong one & would be tough to play against. The hardest position to select for me was the number 6 spot between my great friend VVS or Azharuddin. Hence I named 12 and would choose the 12th man on the day!"
Warne's Greatest India Test XI:​ Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath (VVS Laxman 12th).
