Indians outnumber Pakistanis in Wasim Akram’s all-time Indo-Pak XI
Former Pakistan captain and legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram named a total of six Indian players along with five Pakistan cricketers in his all-time combined Indo-Pak eleven.
His Indo-Pak eleven comprised of former India greats as well as current players. Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, and Jasprit Bumrah were his picks.
"I'll start off with a leftie from Pakistan, Saeed Anwar. Not the best fielder but as a batter he is one of the best Pakistan has produced," Akram told Fox Cricket.
"Opener with him [Saeed Anwar], I pick Virender Sehwag. He changed the mindset in Test Cricket as an opener. Before Sehwag, it used to be three slips and a gully and Sehwag just started whacking everyone," he further added.
They are followed by the iconic trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Javed Miandad, and Virat Kohli, forming the middle order.
"Number three, the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Hundred international hundreds, can't go wrong," he said.
"Number four is very difficult to pick. I have Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam-ul-Haq and from India Rohit Sharma. "It's difficult not to pick Rohit Sharma. But at four, I'm going to go with Javed Miandad because of the way used to bat and how he assessed situations and he was a gun fielder in his heyday," Akram remarked.
"Number five, I'll go with Virat Kohli. You can't just not have Virat Kohli in the playing XI as a selector," he added.
Pakistan's World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan leads the side, while another World Cup-winning skipper India's Kapil Dev fills the all-rounder quotas.
To add to this accomplished lineup, Wasim went with MS Dhoni as his wicketkeeper.
"Number six, it is Imran Khan for me; batting at number six and skipper," he said.
The bowling attack features off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Waqar Younis.
Wasim Akram's combined Indo-Pak ODI XI
1. Saeed Anwar
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Javed Miandad
5. Virat Kohli
6. Imran Khan (C)
7. Kapil Dev
8. MS Dhoni (WK)
9. Saqlain Mushtaq
10. Jasprit Bumrah
11. Waqar Younis