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Gautam Gambhir picks his all-time India XI. (Picture Credit: AFP)
India’s current head coach, Gautam Gambhir, left out Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah from his all-time India XI.
India’s current head coach Gautam Gambhir has picked his all-time India XI, in which he has included the likes of legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and MS Dhoni, along with batting superstar Virat Kohli, but surprisingly, there was no place for Indian captain Rohit Sharma and star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. Rohit is one of the greatest Indian batters of all time, whereas Bumrah has made a big name for himself in all three formats of the game since making his international debut in January 2016 against Australia.
In a video shared by Sportskeeda on YouTube, Gambhir picked himself in his all-time India XI as opener along with Virender Sehwag and included Dravid and Tendulkar at No. 3 and 4 positions. Kohli, who made his international debut for India against Sri Lanka in July 2008, was picked as the No. 5 batter, followed by Yuvraj Singh at No. 6 and Dhoni at 7.
Gambhir, who replaced Dravid as India’s head coach in July 2024, picked Anil Kumble and Ravichandran Ashwin as the two spinners in his all-time XI and featured Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan as two pacers.
The exclusion of Rohit from the all-time India XI came as a surprise for fans because Gambhir has always reserved very high praise for Rohit.
Gambhir’s all-time India XI: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Ravichandran Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan
Gambhir’s record for India
Gambhir made his international debut for India on April 11, 2003, during an ODI match against Bangladesh in Dhaka and went on to play in a total of 58 Tests, 147 ODIs, and 37 T20Is. He was the leading run scorer for India in the 2007 T20 World Cup, and he also top-scored for the MS Dhoni-led side in the final played against Pakistan in Johannesburg on September 24, 2007.
In the 2011 ODI World Cup, Gambhir again top-scored for India (97 runs) in the final match played against Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium on April 2, 2011.
During his playing days, he reached the No. 1 position in the ICC Test batter’s ranking and also led India in six ODIs and won all of them.
