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As many as four Indian players managed to find a place in Ab de Villiers’ dream T20 team, and three Indian stars were included as backups by the former South African captain.
Ab de Villiers includes Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah in his Dream T20 team. (Picture Credit: AFP, Sportzpics)
Former South African captain and legendary batter Ab de Villiers included Indian superstar Virat Kohli and bowling great Jasprit Bumrah in his dream T20 team. Kohli is one of the best all-format batters, whereas Bumrah has established himself as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. In addition to the duo, Rishabh Pant and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were featured in the playing XI of De Villiers’ dream team.
The former right-handed batter picked three Indians—MS Dhoni, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mayank Yadav—as his backups.
He paired Kohli with Australia’s Travis Head at the top, and the duo was followed by Cameron Green and Pant. Green, who is a batting all-rounder, can also win matches with his medium-paced bowling.
De Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, picked Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller as his middle-order batters, Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine as spinners, and paired Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar with Kagiso Rabada in the pace-bowling.
Explaining the reason behind picking Rashid over the likes of Chahal in the playing XI of his dream team, De Villiers, in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, said: “I love the guy (Rashid). He is your magical bowler. You bring him on when the game is on the line in those middle overs. He can get you 2-3 (wickets) in no time, and you can also hold the bat. He can win you the game with a bat in hand as well. Great on the field, great attitude towards the game.”
“He’s (Chahal) not in the main side because he doesn’t bat as strong, maybe not as strong in the field as a Rashid Khan. So, Rashid still tips him there only by a small margin though. But there’s no better bowler in the world as a backup other than Yuzi Chahal,” he added.
The inclusion of Mayank as one of the three substitute pacers came as a surprise for many fans, but De Villiers justified the selection of LSG pacer who made his T20I debut for India last month by saying, “Mayank Yadav is an outright pace bowler. He can break the game open, and he can take some wickets and install big fear in the batting department.”
