MS Dhoni dropped from Shane Warne's playing XI

Mumbai: Shane Warne, who often finds great joy in picking XIs across formats, has revealed who would make it to his T20 side.

The former Australian leg-spinner is currently in England on commentary duties in Natwest T20 Blast. Warne took to social media channels to announce his team.

The former Rajasthan Royals skipper picked West Indian Chris Gayle and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum to open the innings.

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If the opposition manage to survive the duo’s onslaught, Warne had the Royal Challengers Bangalore duo of Virat Kohli (number 3) and AB de Villiers (at number 4). The pair offered no respite to bowlers in the recently concluded Indian Premier League. While Kohli amassed 973 runs following his stellar performance in ICC World Twenty20, the South African maverick scored 687 runs.

Warne follows top four with a series of all-rounders as he picks Shane Watson, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo. While the trio are a threat with a bat in hand, their bowling skills are more than handy no matter which team they play for.

Jos Buttler gets thumbs up from Warne ahead of MS Dhoni to take care of wicketkeeping duties. The English swashbuckling batsman has a reputation to thwart oppositions with his innovative batting style.

Also Read: MS Dhoni brings bad news to Indian cricket

Mitchell Starc, whom Warne once termed “soft”, is one of the frontline pacers alongside Bangladesh pace bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman. Sunil Naine, who did not enjoy a bright IPL 9, is the sole spinner in Warne’s team.

While there are some notable misses as that of David Warner in Warne’s team, the playing XI looks threatening to say the least.