Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble missing from Sanjay Manjrekar's Dream Indian Team

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) started a campaign asking all the Indian cricket team fans to name their Dream Team. To encourage the fans, the BCCI has asked former cricketers to join the initiative and pick their Dream Teams. The first Indian cricketer to come up with his Dream Team is former India batsman and popular commentator Sanjay Manjrekar. His team looks very strong and is a mix of modern and yesteryear stars including Sunil Gavaskar. He announced the team during the ongoing India-New Zealand Test match at Green Park cricket stadium in Kanpur. Manjrekar started the announcement with a disclaimer saying that most of the players picked by him played their cricket in post 70s era. In an interesting move, Manjrekar has decided to open the innings with two completely different players in Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag. Rahul Dravid has been given his favourite No. 3 position and Sachin Tendulkar would come at No. 4. But VVS Laxman couldn't find a place in the team as Manjrekar picked Gundappa Vishwanath. "VVS Laxman was fighting for that spot (No. 5) as well but Vishwanath couldn't get No. 4, so I have given him No. 5," Manjrekar said. India's most successful captain and one of the best finishers in ODI cricket MS Dhoni is the wicketkeeper in the team and he is designated to bat at No. 6. Manjrekar has also picked Dhoni as his captain. Dhoni would be followed by 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, who is also among India's best all-rounders. Zaheer Khan is the second medium-pacer in the team. Manjrekar has picked three spinners in his team but India's highest wicket-taker Anil Kumble couldn't find a place. He has gone with the famous Indian spin trio of Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar.

.@sanjaymanjrekar talks about his #DreamTeam. Have you picked yours? #500thTest pic.twitter.com/ngTZoUOoTF

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 24, 2016