Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has picked a combined Test XI comprising Indian and England cricketers who have played in the 21st century as well. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni are among the players who failed to find a place in the team as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Who should be the openers? I think there is no question or doubt about that. You will have to keep Virender Sehwag on one side. He has two triple centuries and a lot of runs to his name. Along with him, no one is challenging Alastair Cook either. One keeps hitting and the other plays stubbornly, but both score big runs.”

“Then comes the most difficult answer – Rahul Dravid or Joe Root? I am absolutely split right down the middle. As I am Indian and have played with Jammy, I will definitely want to keep Rahul bhai in my team, but I won’t argue with you if you keep Joe Root in your team. At No. 4, there is no contest. I am going with Sachin Tendulkar. Why would you argue against that? He is the finest ever. You wonder if anyone else could have been there – No,” Chopra shared again.

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“At No. 5, there is a discussion. It could be Kevin Pietersen or Virat Kohli. If you are an English person, you may want to go with Pietersen, but then there is Virat Kohli. I don’t know how you can leave Virat Kohli out. So I am going wth Virat Kohli at No. 5. At No. 6, I have got Rishabh Pant. Suddenly, it seems like I am making an Indian team. When I think about a keeper, I don’t remember anyone from England about whom you would say that his name should be there,” he stated.

“At No. 7, I have got Ben Stokes. There was a toss-up between Ben Stokes and Andrew Flintoff here. Flintoff has been outstanding. Who can forget the 2005 Ashes? However, Ben Stokes, the man for the big moments. We have nobody who can compete with him in the 21st century,” he explained.

However, Aakash Chopra also picked veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as his first-choice frontline spinner in all conditions as well.

“After that, I have kept Ravichandran Ashwin’s name. I will play with only one spinner if the matches are in England. You can think about Graeme Swann as well, but how can you leave Ashwin out? You can think about Harbhajan Singh as well, but just the weight of performances over a very long period of time, I will have to pick Ravichandran Ashwin,” he said.

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“After that, I will keep three fast bowlers, in which Sir Jimmy Anderson is right up there. He is a champion. Jasprit Bumrah is going to be there, whether the match is in India or England. At No. 11, if the matches are happening in England, I will think about Zaheer Khan, but keep Stuart Broad. He is a phenomenal bowler in these conditions. In India, I will need another spinner. Then I will keep Ravindra Jadeja’s name,” Aakash Chopra concluded.

Aakash Chopra’s India-England combined 21st-century Test XI:

Virender Sehwag, Alastair Cook, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ben Stokes, Ravichandran Ashwin, James Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, Stuart Broad/Ravindra Jadeja