Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah Ignored; Nick Knight Picks Combined India-England Test XI

India vs England: Former cricketer Nick Knight, who played 17 Tests, is making headlines after he picked a combined XI of India and England in Tests in the 21st century. There are a couple of huge surprises there in his XI. Can you believe - he did not pick Jasprit Bumrah, neither did he include Virat Kohli in his XI. Both Kohli and Bumrah are regarded as the best of the generation and hence their exclusion comes as a massive surprise. 

Why No Kohli?

Knight backed Alastair Cook and Virender Sehwag to open the batting, which is a fair choice. Michael Vaughan as per him comes in at No. 3. Now, that is debatable as there have been others at that number who have done well - like Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. At No. 4, there was no confusion as he picked Sachin Tendulkar. Now, because he picked Tendulkar at that number hence he had to leave out Kohli one reckons. At No. 5, he slotted former English star Kevin Pietersen and he will be followed by Graham Thorpe. Former India captain MS Dhoni features in his XI as the wicketkeeper. And then he picked, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Zaheer Khan as the three pacers. 

Did he pick the best XI is certainly questionable for sure. The inclusion of Vaughan and Thorpe is absolutely questionable. He could easily have had Rishabh Pant or KL Rahul in his side. 

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Nick Knight's Combined India-England XI (21st century): Alastair Cook, Virender Sehwag, Michael Vaughan, Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Graham Thorpe, MS Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Anil Kumble (12th man)