Dinesh Karthik apologised to fans, who were furious and disappointed that he had excluded MS Dhoni from India's all-time greatest XI.
Last week on the occasion of the country's Independence Day, on August 15, Karthik had revealed on his Cricbuzz, selecting a set of 11 players and a 12th man, whom he considered to be India's best all time XI.
However, it came as a major surprise to everyone when he excluded Dhoni, despite having a legacy as the greatest captain in India's history and as one of the best finishers in the game.
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Why did Dinesh Kartik exclude MS Dhoni from his all-time India's greatest XI?
Following an outrage on social media after he had announced his all-time India XI without MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik had to make an apology for his "mistake".
On his Cricbuzz show 'HeyCB with DK', with the episode titled 'MS Dhoni is back', he clarified that he had only realised that he had left out a wicketkeeper once the episode had been recorded.
"Bhai log, bada galti hogaya [Guys, I made a big mistake.] Genuinely it was a mistake. I realized only when the episode came out. There were so many things happening that when I put this 11, I forgot the wicketkeeper. Luckily Rahul Dravid was there and everybody thought I was going with a part-time wicketkeeper. But genuinely I didn't think of Rahul Dravid as a wicketkeeper. Can you believe being a wicketkeeper, I forgot to have a wicketkeeper? It is a blunder," said Karthik.
He further said that Dhoni is an automatic pick in any team and in any format of the game, calling him "one of the greatest cricketers...ever", saying that he would make a change to his original XI.
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What was Dinesh Karthik's original all time India XI without MS Dhoni?
While he had picked his all-time India XI for all-formats, he failed to select either a captain or a wicketkeeper.
Dravid, who could do the keeping duties, is generally considered only as a part-time wicketkeeper, not in the top-tier.
Among the 11 players, Rohit Sharma would've been a big shout for the captaincy choice.
Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, and Zaheer Khan. 12th man: Harbhajan Singh
What is Dinesh Karthik's updated India all-time all format XI with MS Dhoni?
After Dinesh Karthik's clarification that he would make a single change to his original squad by including MS Dhoni at Number 7 and picking him as the captain of the team, here is how the team would look:
Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, and Zaheer Khan. 12th man: Harbhajan Singh
While Ravindra Jadeja is a quality left arm spin allrounder, the current team also has the services of part-time spin allrounders in Sachin Tendulkar (leg break) and Yuvraj Singh (left-arm orthodox), along with Ashwin and Kumble, to cover his absence.
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