Pat Cummins and Virat Kohli
Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders speedster Pat Cummins picked four Indians including skipper Virat Kohli as he built his star-studded Test XI ahead of the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton.
Cummins, who has featured in 34 Test matches for and has plucked 164 wickets, picked four Australians as well and included a player each from New Zealand, England, and South Africa in his side.
Currently serving quarantine after arriving from India via the Maldives, Cummins spoke to Cricbuzz where he chose Rohit Sharma and David Warner as his Test openers, saying that the two can set the tone for other batsmen to play with freedom without any pressure.
Cummins next lined three members from the 'Fab-four' in the batting set-up, picking Kane Williamson at the No.3 position and then adding Steve Smith and Kohli. While Smith has 7540 runs in 77 Tests including 27 hundreds, Kohli 7490 runs to his name at an average of 52.4.
England star Ben Stokes was the only all-rounder in Cummins' side and the Aussie pacer assigned wicketkeeping duties to India's Rishabh Pant.
On the bowling front, Cummins went with India’s Jasprit Bumrah, South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, and himself as pace bowling options, and finished the XI by picking his teammate Nathan Lyon as the lone spinner.
Notably, Cummins currently is the top wicket-taker in the World Test Championship (WTC), having plucked 70 wickets in 14 Test matches. After staying away from the sport for almost a month, Cummins will be seen in action when the Aussies fly to West Indies for two white-ball series, with first of the five T20 Internationals beginning on July 9. They then follow the T20I series with the ODI series that starts from July 20 to 24.
Pat Cummins’ World Test XI: David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Kane Williamson, Steven Smith, Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes, Rishabh Pant (WK), Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah.
