At pre-tournament event, the 10 World Cup captains were given a hypothetical situation wherein they could pick any player from the other side and India skipper Virat Kohli opted to select South African counterpart Faf du Plessis.
Of course, it should not come as a surprise that he would have liked AB de Villiers in his side if he ever got a chance to pick someone from the other participating teams in the World Cup.
“It is very difficult to choose someone. We feel we are such a strong side. But if I have to choose one from the current lot...since AB (de Villiers) is retired now, I would choose Faf (du Plessis),” said Kohli at the official captains’ media conference.
There were some interesting answers, ranging from Jasprit Bumrah to Rashid Khan as well.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza picked, perhaps, them most obvious player. Pointing towards Kohli, Mortaza said: “I would choose that guy.”
Du Plessis preferred to pick bowlers rather than batsmen but when asked if he would not like to have Kohli in his team, the South African said “Virat is my batting team”.
“I will pick a few players, mainly bowlers. For bowling attack...Jasprit Bumrah, he is bowling really well at the moment. As Virat said, he is multi-format bowler. Then there is exciting spinner Rashid Khan, Pat Cummins from Australia. Team that will go till the end of the tournament will be the ones that do well with the ball. Bowlers who have capabilities of taking wickets,” said du Plessis.
New Zealander Kane Williamson agreed with his South African counterpart, saying bowlers will play a key role.
“Bowlers will play a big part and I would love to have Rashid Khan in my team,” said Williamson.
England’s Eoin Morgan said: “I won’t change anything about my team. Ponting is part of Australia’s coaching side, so I would take Ricky Ponting.”
Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed picked up Jos Butler, while Australian Aaron Finch went for Proteas strike bowler Kagiso Rabada.
“Rabada is one guy who has amazing energy. He is a superstar,” said Finch.
Choice for Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne was Ben Stokes.
“He (Stokes) is a game changer. We know what he can do,” the Lankan skipper said.
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