Australia’s dynamic all-rounder Glenn Maxwell recently revealed his all-time ODI XI, choosing a lineup that exclusively features players from India and Australia. However, his selections raised eyebrows for both inclusions and omissions — most notably the absence of Pakistani legends.
Rohit Sharma Over Sachin Tendulkar in Opening Pair
During an interaction with Fox Cricket, Maxwell revealed that he had initially picked Rohit Sharma to open alongside David Warner, leaving out ODI cricket’s leading run-scorer, Sachin Tendulkar. He justified his choice by prioritizing a left-right batting combination at the top.
“𝑹𝒐𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰’𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒚 (𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓) – 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 45, 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒆-𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 97, 22 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒔. 𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅’𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕-𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 (𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏) 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕,” 𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅.
For the middle order, Maxwell chose Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Bevan, while MS Dhoni was named wicketkeeper-batter and Shane Watson the all-rounder. The bowling attack featured Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jasprit Bumrah, and Anil Kumble as the specialist spinner.
Correction Brings Back the Master Blaster
However, Glenn Maxwell later realized he had exceeded the limit of five players per country after picking six Australians. To fix this, he decided to drop Warner and bring back the “Master Blaster” Sachin Tendulkar.
“𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒚. 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔, 𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝒊𝒏. 𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓, 𝑺𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔,” 𝑴𝒂𝒙𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉.
Glenn Maxwell’s all-time ODI XI:
Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan, MS Dhoni (WK), Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Jasprit Bumrah, Anil Kumble.
Glenn Maxwell, who is currently recovering from a fractured arm sustained while bowling in the nets ahead of the New Zealand T20I series, is unlikely to participate in the upcoming white-ball matches against India, beginning October 19.
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