Five Pak Greats in Sunil Gavaskar's combined Pakistan-India Test XI

• At the opening slot, he picked Pakistan's stalwart late Hanif Mohammed and Virender Sehwag.
• Then, he chose Asian Bradman Zaheer Abbas Sachin Tendulkar to complete his top order.

ISLAMABAD: Former Indian Batsman Sunil Gavaskar has picked five Pakistani Greats in his Dream Combined Pakistan-India Test XI.

He named the squad with Former Pakistani Skipper Rameez Raja on the Sony Ten show Pit Stop, as quoted by crickettimes.com.

His lineup consisted of greats from the two sides, who played in the golden generation predominantly. At the opening slot, he picked Pakistan's stalwart late Hanif Mohammed and Virender Sehwag. Hanif was the first cricketer from Pakistan to post a triple-century.

Then, he chose Pakistan’s most significant number three batsman Asian Bradman Zaheer Abbas and ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar to complete his top order.

Gavaskar, during his stint at the commentary box, made it very lucid about being an ardent fan of Gundappa Vishwanath’s batting. Therefore, he included Vishwanath at number five.

It was a no-brainer to include the two greatest all-rounders produced by the arch-rivals, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.

The wicket-keeping duties were appointed to Gavaskar’s former teammate Syed Kirmani. Bowling great Wasim Akram was the only specialist seamer in the lineup. Whereas, the two spinners in the side were late Abdul Qadir and B.S. Chandrashekhar.

Sunil Gavaskar’s combined India-Pakistan Test XI: Hanif Mohammad, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Abbas, Sachin Tendulkar, Gundappa Viswanath, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Syed Kirmani, Wasim Akram, Abdul Qadir, B.S. Chandrasekhar.

Meanwhile Rameez Raja picked a star-studded all-time Pakistan-India ODI XI. While listing the names, Raja revealed how his son's suggestions had a huge say in reducing the pressures of choosing only XI players from a pool of giant players.

According to his son, the plan of picking some of the legendary Indian batsmen along with the best Pakistani bowlers was an easier way to assemble a balanced and formidable playing XI.

“I briefly discussed this with my son. It’s a massive situation to be in, how to assemble a star cast of some giants of the game. But he said no it’s very simple, you have Pakistan bowlers and Indian batsmen in the line-up and you get a fantastic India-Pakistan XI," sportskeeda.com quoted him as saying.

The talented pool of XI players starts with Indian cricket team players Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar at the top of the order, followed by the current Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli at number three.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni complete the middle-order with being Dhoni handed the wicket-keeping responsibilities as well.

With the Indian batsman taking centre-stage, Raja went with the of 1992 World Cup winning captain Imran Khan as his premier all-rounder along with the tried and tested swing-bowling pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Saqlain Mushtaq and Anil Kumble were paired together to form a lethal spin-bowling duo. Ramiz Raja went with Imran Khan as captain.

The ODI XI includes Virender Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni (WK), Imran Khan (C), Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Anil Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq.