Russel Arnold picks his current dream Test XI

The commentators in the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata are picking their current dream Test XI based on recent performances. Former Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold also named his team and he picked the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson as the captain of his dream side. His team also includes some new faces when compared to the dream teams of Matthew Hayden and VVS Laxman.

Arnold chose Australia’s flamboyant opener David Warner and Proteas batsman Hashim Amla as his two openers in the team. He preferred to pick India’s most consistent batsman in the longer format, Cheteshwar Pujara, over England’s Joe Root for the number three position. The biggest shocker in Arnold’s team was the that he didn’t go with Indian skipper and run machine Virat Kohli in the middle order. Kohli’s absence in the side was also surprising for Hayden and Laxman because they picked him as the captain of their respective armies.

The cricketer turned commentator preferred to pick Kane Williamson and the Aussie skipper Steve Smith in the middle order. He explained his surprise picks with the fact that he rates the performance of foreign players in the sub-continent a lot more. Smith was the highest scorer in the four-match Test series in India, earlier this year and even Pujara has been very consistent in the longest format. Arnold also has England’s star player Ben Stokes as his all-rounder and Quinton de Kock as the wicketkeeper.

In the bowling department, the left-hander choose to pick the two most successful spinners in the sub-continent currently, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rangana Herath. Both the two off-spinners have been very instrumental in their successful run in the longest format of the game. Arnold picked Kiwi fast bowler Trent Boult and English swing bowler James Anderson as his fast bowlers in the dream team.

Star Sports presenter and anchor Mayanti Langer got a new role of the manager for the dream teams picked by Hayden, Laxman and Arnold.

Russel Arnold’s dream Test XI:

David Warner, Hashim Amla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kane Williamson (C), Steve Smith, Quinton de Kock (wk), Ben Stokes, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rangana Herath, Trent Boult, James Anderson.