Cheteshwar Pujara picks combined India-England Test XI; no Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni

Veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara made some interesting choices while picking a combined India-England Test XI from the 21st century. India are currently in England for an ongoing five-match Test series. The hosts lead 2-1 after three matches.

Notably, Cheteshwar Pujara, yet to retire, is not a part of the team. He last played a Test in 2023 during the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia at The Oval. The 37-year-old is in England as part of the broadcast team for the ongoing series. He picked the team on ESPN Cricinfo's segment 'The Draft'.

Pujara picked former cricketers Alec Stewart and Rahul Dravid as his openers. Stewart played 133 Tests, scoring 8463 runs with 15 centuries. He is also the wicket-keeper of this side. Dravid played 164 Tests, amassing 13288 runs with 36 hundreds.

Picking a strong middle-order, Pujara went with Joe Root, former captain Virat Kohli, and VVS Laxman. Root, also playing in the current series, has 13259 runs from 156 games with 37 tons. Kohli, who retired from the format recently, played 123 games and scored 9230 runs with 30 hundreds. Laxman, another stalwart, made 8781 runs from 134 matches with 17 centuries.

Pujara, opting for balance and batting depth together, then picked four all-rounders in England captain Ben Stokes, former cricketer Andrew Flintoff, and the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, who are also the two spinners.

Rounding it up, he picked an all Indian pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. He included former England quick Matthew Hoggard as the 12th man. Interestingly, his team did not have the likes of the great Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

Pujara's India-England combined Test XI (21st century): Alec Stewart (wk), Rahul Dravid, Joe Root, Virat Kohli, VVS Laxman, Ben Stokes, Andrew Flintoff, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Matthew Hoggard (12th man).

India eyes come back at Manchester in fourth Test

Meanwhile, India will be keen to come back in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester. It begins on Wednesday, July 23. The visitors are 1-2 down in the series.

England won the first Test at Headingley by five wickets. Shubman Gill and Co. bounced back with a massive 336-run win in the second Test at Birmingham. However, the hosts then clinched a thrilling 22-run victory in the third game at Lord's to gain the lead.

The fourth game is now a do-or-die affair for Gill and his troops to keep their hopes of winning the series alive. Despite dominating for most parts of all three games so far, India have fallen short, failing to seize key moments. They are thus behind in the series. A win at Manchester will set up a thrilling finale in the final Test at The Oval.

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Edited by Rishab Vm