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No Babar Azam In Wasim Akram's Ind0-Pak WC XI; Tendulkar-Kohli Included

image-lnb8vf2aImran Khan will captain Wasim Akram's Indo-PAK WC XI [X.com]

One of the biggest cricketing rivalries will resume on October 14, when India and Pakistan clash in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 clash at Ahmedabad.

Both arch-rivals have been at loggerheads since the 1992 World Cup, with India achieving an overwhelming 7-0 record against Pakistan in the tournament.

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram, who has been part of four such India-Pakistan World Cup games, revealed his all-time Indo-PAK XI for the showpiece tournament.

Speaking to FOXCricket, the 1992 World Cup winner, without any shadow of a doubt picked Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Akram snubbed current India and Pakistan captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam and opted to pick Saeed Anwar and Virender Sehwag as openers. 

The bowling all-rounder named former Pakistan captain Imran Khan as skipper, which included WC-winning leaders such as Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni as well. 


Here's what Akram said

"Number three, the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Hundred international hundreds, can't go wrong. Number four is…. very difficult to pick. I have Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam-ul-Haq and another great from India - Rohit Sharma. It's difficult not to pick Rohit. But at four, I'm going to go with Javed Miandad because of the way batted and how he assessed situations and he was a gun fielder in his heyday.


"Number five, I'll go with Virat Kohli. You can't just not have Virat Kohli in the playing XI as a selector. Number six, it's Imran Khan for me, batting at number six and skipper obviously. And then, of course, another great, one of my favourite persons, my hero - Kapil Dev. Nobody can beat this team" 



The Sultan of Swing picked Jasprit Bumrah as the second pacer to partner Waqar Younis, leaving out Shaheen Shah Afridi with Saqlain Mushtaq as the lone spinner.


Akram's all-time Indo-Pak World Cup XI

Saeed Anwar, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Javed Miandad,  Virat Kohli, Imran Khan (c) Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni (wk), Saqlain Mushtaq, Jasprit Bumrah, and Waqar Younis.