Legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday named his World Cup Playing XI and picked Indian captain Virat Kohli as the skipper of his team.
Tendulkar has selected Rohit Sharma and Johny Bairstow as his openers. The selection of the Indian batsman and his England counterpart looked justified as both of them have performed very well in Cricket World Cup 2019. Sharma finished as top-scorer in this World Cup by scoring 648 runs with five centuries. On the other hand, Bairstow has scored 532 runs for England and has been the mainstay of England's batting throughout the tournament.
Tendulkar has picked New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson for number three spot ahead of Kohli and this is again a wise decision because Williamson has batted superbly at that position and went on to score 578 runs. The performance of Williamson in Cricket World Cup 2019 is praiseworthy because New Zealand have failed to get a good start in nearly all games of this World Cup and the Kiwi skipper has always batted under pressure.
Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is also picked by Tendulkar in his playing XI and rightly so because he has scored 606 runs and taken 11 wickets in this World Cup. Shakib is one among those players whom any captain would love to include in his team and Tendulkar has done the same.
Tendulkar has also included England all-rounder Ben Stokes in his playing XI. Stokes has batted, bowled and fielded very well in Cricket World Cup 2019 and he is one among those players who love to perform under pressure. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya is also picked up by Tendulkar in his team. Tendulkar's decision to pick Pandya largely hinges on the fact that he is an explosive batsman and has the capability to tear apart any bowling attack on his day. Pandya is a handy bowler too and he has slowly developed this talent to give crucial breakthroughs to Team India at crucial moments in the game.
The surprise inclusion in Tendulkar's team is Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who did not play in most of the games for Team India during the World Cup. Jadeja, however, proved his potential in the semi-final against New Zealand and though India lost the match by 18 runs, Jadeja won everyone's hearts with his superb performance with the bat and ball both.
Tendulkar has selected Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah to take care of fast bowling duties and there is no surprise here because all these bowlers have performed very well in World Cup 2019. Starc finished as the top wicket-taker in Cricket World Cup 2019 with 27 scalps, while Archer is at second place with 20 wickets in his kitty. Bumrah has taken 18 wickets in Cricket World Cup but he is one bowler who will find a place in any playing XI only on the basis of his ability to bowl perfect yorkers in the death overs.
