Gautam Gambhir picks best Indian Test XI, appoints Anil Kumble as captain

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has picked his best Indian Test XI in which he selected Anil Kumble as the captain. Interestingly, Kumble led India in a handful of Test matches as the veteran spinner captained in 14 Test matches in which the team won three and lost five and thus he had a winning percentage of 21.42. However, Kumble had led India to a famous win in the Perth Test match against Australia in 2008.

Meanwhile, Gambhir picked former legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag as his openers. Gavaskar was the first man in Test history to breach the 10,000 run mark. The Little Master scored 10122 runs in 125 Test matches at 51.12. Sehwag was known to take the attack to the opposition and amassed 8586 runs in 104 Test matches at 49.34.

Rahul Dravid takes the number three position as he scored 13288 runs in 164 Test matches at an average of 52.31. Sachin Tendulkar who is the highest run-getter in the Test fold, takes his normal position of number four as the Master Blaster scored 15921 runs in 200 Test matches at an average of 53.79.

The current Indian captain Virat Kohli bats at number five for Gautam Gambhir. Kohli has thus far scored 7240 runs in 86 Test matches at an average of 53.62. Former World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev bats at number six in Gambhir’s best Test XI. Dev scalped 434 wickets in 131 Test matches and scored 5248 runs.

MS Dhoni takes the gloves for Gautam Gambhir. Dhoni scored 4876 runs in 90 Test matches at an 38.09. Harbhajan Singh also makes the cut into the side as he scalped 417 Test wickets in 103 Test matches. Anil Kumble is the second spinner and the former leg-spinner is India’s leading wicket-taker with 619 wickets in 132 Test matches.

Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan constitute the pace battery of the side. Srinath was India’s lone warrior during his heydays as he snared 236 wickets in 67 Test matches. Zaheer Khan took 311 wickets in 92 Test matches at 32.95.

Gautam Gambhir’s all-time India’s Test XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble (Captain), Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath.

Written by: Gautam Chauhan