Veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who last played an international match in December 2012, has picked his all-time India ODI XI. While speaking to Shubhankar Mishra on the latter’s podcast, Chawla, who hasn’t played for India in over a decade, picked legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni as the captain of the team. At the top of the order, Chawla picked legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar and current India captain Rohit Sharma as openers. At no.3, the 35-year-old made a surprise pick in the form of Virender Sehwag, and demoted Virat Kohli to no. 4.
In the middle order, he picked Yuvraj Singh and Kapil Dev, who led India to its maiden ODI World Cup title in 1983, as his all-rounders, with Dhoni adding more batting firepower down the order.
In the bowling department, Chawla picked two spinners — Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh — and two pacers, one each from the past and present teams.
He chose Jasprit Bumrah to partner 2011 World Cup-winner Zaheer Khan.
During the same interaction, Chawla also opened up on his bond with current India captain Rohit.
“I’ve played so much cricket with him that we’ve reached a comfort level. We sit off the field as well. Once, at 2:30 in the night, he texted me and asked, “you up?” He drew a field on paper and discussed with me about potentially dismissing Warner. Even at that time, he was thinking about how he could get the best out of me,” Chawla revealed.
While praising Rohit, Chawla added: “There’s a captain, then there’s a leader. He isn’t a captain, he is a leader. Whether it was 2023 ODI WC, or the 2024 T20 WC, the way he batted, he sets the tone in such a way that he made it easy for next batters. He’s a true leader. He gives you a free hand.”
Piyush Chawla’s All-Time India ODI XI:
Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah And Zaheer Khan
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