Dale Steyn picks his dream Test team

Four South Africa players, including former captain Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers, made it to Dale Steyn's dream Test team. India's Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar also made the starting XI as did Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

The Proteas fast bowler, who was part of the Hampshire side that lifted the Royal London One Day Cup, named his Dream Test team ahead of the final between Hampshire and Kent. Speaking to Sky Sports, he named four South African players, two Indians and Australians, along with one player from England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in his side. He also named Allan Donald and Jonty Rhodes as his 12th and 13th men.

The 35-year-old fast bowler had Graeme Smith as the captain of the side while Kumar Sangakkara was the wicketkeeper. His team comprises of five front-line batsmen, not including the keeper, two all-rounders, two fast bowlers and a spinner.

Opening the innings in his side was Smith and Sehwag. While Smith, under whom Steyn made his debut was the No.1 pick in the side, the pacer went with Sehwag, who he added was "tough to bowl to". Speaking of Sehwag, Steyn said: "he once scored 300 against us in a day in Chennai, so why wouldn't I have him?"

At the No.3 spot, Steyn went with Hashim Amla ahead of the likes of Ricky Ponting or Rahul Dravid. Sachin Tendulkar took the No.4 spot while AB de Villiers and Sangakkara completed the batting line-up.

On Sachin, Steyn said: " He had me covered. I've never felt so hopeless before! I just felt like I couldn't get him out and had no answer."

Andrew Flintoff was picked as the all-rounder along with Jacques Kallis. Steyn admitted that Kallis is his favourite player and the fact that he could bat, bowl and take tons of catches in the field made him the quintessential all-rounder.

"I loved watching Freddie. If you look at his stats he may not have been the best player in the world but he bowled a heavy ball and had that fear factor and a presence. I felt like Fred had game-changing moments and you can't not have someone like him in the side."

Dale Steyn explained that the spinner slot was a toss-up between Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan and admitted that he went for the former due to the fact that he was a leg-spinner.

"He was a showman, too. People paid money to watch him play. I'd still pay money to watch him abuse a batter and work somebody out. Watching him as a player was so exciting - even if he got hit for four off the worst ball it felt like he'd planned it. The batters never knew what was coming. He was magic," Steyn added.

In the pace department, the Proteas pacer went with Wasim Akram and Glenn McGrath. He described the Pakistan pacer as a genius and added that McGrath's control was something that he adored.

Dale Steyn's Dream Test team: Graeme Smith (C), Virender Sehwag, Hashim Amla, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara (WK) AB de Villiers, Andrew Flintoff, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath