Seldom are the times when a player would exclude MS Dhoni from their playing XI. But Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Dinesh Karthik compiled his list of Playing XI and in his team, the veteran wicket-keeper has excluded the Chennai Super Kings skipper from his list of IPL Playing XI and has opted for Rohit Sharma to captain his side. Yes! You read it right. During the chat with Cricbuzz, the Tamil Nadu born cricketer named his playing XI which had seven Indian names. Dinesh Karthik Disappointed With CSK For Picking MS Dhoni Over Him in 2008, Expresses Desire to Play for the IPL Franchise. 

His playing XI has names like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the opening slot. Rohit Sharma will be placed on number three. Dinesh Karthik himself will be handling the wicket-keeping duties. Jamaican born cricketer Andre Russell will be rubbing shoulder with his West Indies’ teammate Sunil Narine. The duo will be handling the all-rounder’s department. He picked up three cricketers when it came to handling the pacers’ department. Australia’s Glenn McGrath and Mitchell Starc were in the list of bowlers. Whereas India’s Jasprit Bumrah was also added to the list. Yuzvendra Chahal would be handling the spin bowling department. So Ravichandran Ashwin also missed out on the list.

Dinesh Karthik during the interview also spoke about how disappointed he was when Chennai Super Kings opted for MS Dhoni in his place back in IPL 2008. “The first name I saw picked (by CSK in the first IPL auction) was MS Dhoni, for 1.5 million. He was sitting right down the corner from me. He didn’t even tell me a word that he was going to be picked by CSK. I guess he didn’t know, but that was the biggest dagger to my heart,” Karthik said.

Dinesh Karthik's all-time IPL XI:

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Glenn McGrath, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2020 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).