Former England captain Michael Vaughan has picked his ICC World Cup 2019 team of the tournament even before it began. Breaking the trend, Vaughan decided to stay ahead of the game by naming his World Cup 2019 XI, a week before the tournament opener between England and South Africa on May 30.
Vaughan picked as many as three Indians, three from England,two Australians and Pakistanis and one New Zealander in his World Cup 2019 XI.
He decided to open with India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma andAustralian left-hander David Warner. “Rohit hasn’t just scored centuries, hehas scored double centuries. David Warner gets in all my format teams- tests,ODIs and T20s,” Vaughan was quoted as saying in a video on Twitter.
Quite understandably, Vaughan chose India captain ViratKohli as his No. 3 but surprisingly went for Pakistan’s Babar Azam as his No. 4instead of the experienced lot of Steve Smith, Ross Taylor and Joe Root.
The former England captain decided to go with theswashbuckling Jos Buttler instead of the calm and collective MS Dhoni. He thenpicked Ben Stokes and Australia’s Pat Cummins as his two all-rounders in theside.
Describing Stokes, the former England cricketer said,”High-class all-rounder, always in the game, whether with the bat in hand, theball in hand or in the field. He’ll always create an impact.”
Commenting on Cummins, Vaughan said, “An incredible new ballbowler, in the middle with some strong hitting with the bat and high class inthe field.”
Vaughan picked two leg-spinners in Adil Rashid and ShadabKhan in his bowling attack. His new-ball bowlers were India’s Jasprit Bumrahand New Zealand’s Trent Boult.
Vaughan hailed Bumrah as the best limited overs bowler ofthe world. “The best white ball bowler in the world, quality at the start andoutstanding at the death. Probably the best yorker bowler in world cricket aswe speak,” he further added.
Michael Vaughan’s combined XI: Rohit Sharma, David Warner,Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Shadab Khan, Pat Cummins, AdilRashid, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, 12th man- Rashid Khan. Agencies