Andrew Flintoff picks Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar; omits MS Dhoni from his T20 XI

London: Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff picked three Indians in his side, when he was asked to pick his all-time fantasy T20 XI – Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, and Ravichandran Ashwin.

While he picked former England teammate Marcus Trescothick and ex-New Zealand captain Brendan McCullum as his two openers, Flintoff put Kohli and Tendulkar in the middle-order.

“I’ll go with Kohli at three, who is on a different planet right now, and Sachin at four,” Flintoff said to The Metro. “You don’t need that much power, you look at the way Sachin played, it’s all about timing and technique and clever batting. You don’t have to hit it into the top tier.”

Flintoff, who played only seven T20 internationals for England, was not as successful in the shorter format of the game, as he scored only 76 runs at an average of 12.66, and picked up only five wickets.

Hence, went on to pick ex-Australia cricketer Andrew Symonds and current England star and Indian Premier League’s (IPL) highest paid foreign player Ben Stokes, ahead of himself in the all-rounder section.

“Symonds was an amazing player, I played with him and against him – he was the ultimate team man and just an incredible player,” said Flintoff. “And I wouldn’t put myself in! I’d have Stokes instead, definitely.”

The 39-year-old had a difficult choice between Australia and Sri Lanka legends Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, but went on to pick the latter.

“Murali every day of the week – he’s a fierce competitor and I’m really good mates with him – I love Murali,” he said.

“Wasim (Akram) was just different class. My old pal Goughy (Darren Gough) has to be in there, and I’ll go with Ashwin as well.”

However, the absence of former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in the wicketkeeper’s category could raise a few questions. Instead, the Englishman picked Australia’s legendary keeper Adam Gilchrist.

“There’s only one: Gilchrist,” said Flintoff, while picking his wicketkeeper. “Any others are just a poor man’s Gilchrist. The thing about Gilchrist is he changed cricket – he started the game going where it is today.”

Dhoni was the first captain to win the T20 World Cup, as he led the Indian cricket team to victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the inaugural edition of the event in 2007. The wicketkeeper-batsman later went on to play 76 T20Is for India, scoring 1,209 runs, at an average of 36.63.

Meanwhile, Gilchrist played only 13 T20Is, with a paltry average of 22.66. however, it would be unfair to compare the two players, as the Australian was at the fag end of his career when the T20 format was beginning to boom, in international cricket.

Interestingly, Flintoff had also played a bit of T20 cricket under Dhoni’s captaincy, in the now defunct IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. However, the Englishman did not have a great time in CSK in 2009.

Andrew Flintoff’s T20 XI:

Marcus Trescothick (England)
Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
Virat Kohli (India)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Andrew Symonds (Australia)
Ben Stokes (England)
Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
Darren Gough (England)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)