Shahid Afridi reveals the reason behind picking only Virat Kohli in his all-time World Cup XI

Shahid Afridi is all over the news ever since his autobiography ‘Game Changer’ was released. The former Pakistan all-rounder has raised eyebrows with his revelations. The biggest of them is definitely the revelation of his real age. He revealed that he was actually 19-years-old when he produced a 37-ball 100 in Nairobi in 1996-97 and not 16 as had been recorded officially.

But as per the book, he was 21 in the aforementioned record-breaking knock. Now he has claimed that he was unaware of his real age when he appeared for the national Under-14 trials and it led to all the ‘mess’ and ‘misunderstanding’ on the issue. The legendary cricketer also said that he has no regrets of talking about his age in his just-released autobiography and also clarified that the first edition carried the wrong year of his birth.

Afridi had caused a stir with an excerpt in his book on Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir. The allrounder had made some disrespectful remarks about Gambhir which eventually culminated in a war of words between them on Twitter. Afridi then risked facing the Indian fans’ ire again after snubbing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni from his all-time World Cup eleven.

Afridi had just included current captain Virat Kohli in the team. Afridi has now revealed the reason that made him pick Kohli over the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni and other Indian greats. Speaking on a local television channel, Afridi said that Kohli’s eye-catching batting made him include the right-hander in the team.

“Sachin and Dhoni are greats and they have achieved a lot for Indian cricket. I picked Kohli because he just looks so majestic and beautiful to watch while batting,” said Afridi.

Afridi expresses his love for Indian cricket

While the relation between India and Pakistan are at an all-time low at the moment, things were rosy a few years ago. India and Pakistan regularly toured each other’s territories and Shahid Afridi has fond memories of those trips.  The allrounder said he loved each and every tour of India because of the affection he received. He also expressed admiration for Indian cricket.

“I have enjoyed each and every tour of India because of the love and affection I and other Pakistan players have got there always. I admire Indian cricket because of the way the sport is run there and how the money they earn is invested back into the game and players,” said Afridi.

Shahid Afridi’s all-time World Cup XI: Saeed Anwar, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq.

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