Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian in Stuart Broad's All Time XI

What’s the story?

England fast bowler Stuart Broad has picked his All-time XI, which includes a few of the legends of the game. Alastair Cook is the captain of Broad’s team.

The composition of the team is 5 batsmen, 2 all rounders, 1 wicket keeper, 3 bowlers. The team includes seven English and Australian players, while Sachin Tendulkar is the only player from India to make it to the eleven. The 30-year-old England player picked Shane Warne as the vice-captain.

In case you didn’t know...

Lord’s Cricket has started an initiative of inviting some of the great past and present players to name their All Time XI.

The heart of the matter

Broad has gone with an all-left opening combination in Alastair Cook and Matthew Hayden. Broad believes that Hayden’s style of batting would perfectly complement Cook’s style of playing at the top. The middle order comprises of Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara.

The fast bowler picked Matthew Prior, one of his former teammates, for the wicketkeeper’s role. Jacques Kallis grabs one of the all-rounder spots in the XI with his phenomenal run-making and wicket-taking abilities, while Sir Richard Hadlee graces the second all-rounder spot in Broad’s team.

Shane Warne has been picked as the lone spinner. Broad’s long-term red ball opening partner James Anderson makes it into the XI along with Australian Glenn Mcgrath as the team’s fast bowlers.

Stuart Broad’s All-Time XI: Alastair Cook (C), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Matthew Prior (WK), Sir Richard Hadlee, Shane Warne (VC), Glenn Mcgrath, James Anderson

What’s next?

It would be interesting to see who Lord’s Cricket invites next to name their All-Time XI. The team picked by the player shows the cricketers who influenced them the most in their childhood and who they admired the most.

Sportskeeda’s take

The middle order consisting of Ponting, Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis is a bowler’s nightmare and every cricket fan’s dream. Kallis at six is probably batting a bit lower than his usual position ,but with the kind of players above him in the batting order, it would be tough to move him up the order.

Shane Warne picked as the vice-captain of the team is surely an intriguing option, given that he was in that role for Australia in only 11 ODIs over his entire playing career. But many pundits and ex-cricketers have spoken about the fact that Warne wasn’t afforded more games to lead the Australian side and he would have made a brilliant leader.

The Ashes rivalry is the most important for English players and picking seven players from England and Australia would testify that.