No MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar as former England captain picks two playing XIs for his dream cricket match

Former England captain Michael Atherton picked two playing XIs to compete in a dream Test match that would hypothetically takes place at The Oval. The former opening batter included the likes of Joe Root and Kane Williamson in Team A. He picked the likes of Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes in Team B.

Atherton chose Sir Viv Richards as the captain of Team A and Stokes as the captain of Team B. He wrote in his column for The Times:

"Team A: Virender Sehwag, Graeme Smith, Viv Richards (C), Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Andrew Flintoff, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Malcolm Marshall, Jimmy Anderson, Allan Donald. Team B: Saeed Anwar, Graham Gooch, Virat Kohli, Brian Lara, David Gower, Ben Stokes (C), Jack Russell, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, Darren Gough, Curtly Ambrose."

Interestingly, neither teams featured other great Test players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, among others. Atherton said that he chose Richards and Stokes as captains because he felt it would heat up the contest, something which he would enjoy watching.

"I’ve chosen Stokes and Richards to captain my teams, because I fancy that sparks would fly. I’d quite like to see that!" he wrote.

Michael Atherton picks Virat Kohli as one among the three most charismatic players that he has seen

Ever since retiring from international cricket in 2001, Michael Atherton has become a well-travelled journalist, covering English cricket both in home series and on away tours. The 57-year-old said that former India captain Virat Kohli was one of the three most charismatic players that he had seen along with Sir Viv Richards and Shane Warne.

"It is a cliché to say that sport reveals character, but a cliché becomes so because it’s true, and Test cricket reveals it more than most sport. This has something to do with the time it takes, the changing conditions and the scope for introspection.

"It can be a brutal game, which is why Virat Kohli urged cricketers to give their heart and soul to Test cricket, because that is where you earn respect. The most charismatic players I’ve seen are Viv Richards, Shane Warne and Kohli," Atherton wrote.

Following Kohli's retirement from Test cricket in May 2025, Atherton had said that he loved watching every day of the right-hander's 123 Tests. He had also praised him for his passion and intensity with which he played the game.