Mr. Sachin where is your specialist keeper? Or do you plan on asking Bairstow to bat up the order and keep for you as well? ?
First the "nominated" ICC XI team and now Sachin making the same mistake. For goodness sake Archer, Ferguson and Bumrah have to offer similar delivery types, all three are good death bowlers but you got to have variety to mix things up, especially playing second when pitches tend to slow up. Instead of Archer, I would rather have Mustafiz (not the most popular option, I know, but the guy has got the variety you need).
Sachin just made it look so ridiculous by including 5 indian players and none from Pakistan. Yes, Kohli is a great player but why the heck would anyone include him based on his recent performance. Babar performed much more consistently than Kohli in the world cup. But I don't see why the heck would anyone include Babar or Kohli, right after Kane Williamson, as the three have a pretty similar stroke play style. Just stick with one. Instead bring in a specialist spinner Up at the top I would have gone for Finch alongside Sharma. Both were consistent performers.
No way I would include Jadeja and Pandya in the playing XI. Play specialist batsmen and specialist bowlers to win the games, no in-between. Alex Carey (specialist keeper) and Shaheen Afridi.
That's how the playing XI would look like:
Rohit Sharma
Aaron Finch
Kane Williamson (C)
Shakib Al Hasan
Alex Carey (K)
Ben Stokes
Muhammad Nabi
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Mustafizur Rehman
Mitchell Starc
Jusprit Bumrah
Two quality spinners, 4 specialist fast bowlers and 6 proper batsmen. The right ingredients to win you a game on almost any kind of surface.
