Former Bangladesh head coach Dav Whatmore has picked Shakib Al Hasan in his best Test XI. The XI is based on the teams he played for and coached.

Whatmore, who had a short international career for Australia, later went on to coach Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Zimbabwe as well. He was the coach of Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning squad in 1996.

In an article published on The Cricket Monthly magazine, Whatmore picked five Sri Lankans including the greats Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Muralitharan. Azhar Ali and Umar Gul are the two Pakistanis. Meanwhile, Allan Border is the captain of the XI.

Whatmore coached Bangladesh during 2003-2007 period. Shakib made his international debut under his coaching. He described Shakib as a ‘three-dimensional’ player.

“I knew he was going to be a long-term representative of Bangladesh cricket because of the way he went about his cricket. In one-day cricket he was very competitive. He had a bit of skill in batting and bowling, but as time went on, when he was ranked the No. 1 allrounder in the world as a spinner-batsman, it vindicated his effort and skill. Over time he became a lot more confident, a three-dimensional player, and the best allrounder in the world,” Whatmore said of Shakib in the article.

Dav Whatmore’s best Test XI:

1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2. Azhar Ali
3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
4. Aravinda de Silva
5. Mahela Jayawardene
6. Allan Border (captain)
7. Shakib Al Hasan
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. Rodney Hogg
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Umar Gul

The Australian has also picked the best XI he played and coached against that includes a lot of great names of world cricket. The XI as follows: 

1. Sunil Gavaskar (captain)
2. Mark Taylor
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Brian Lara
6. Rahul Dravid
7. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
8. Kapil Dev
9. Wasim Akram
10. Shane Warne
11. Glenn McGrath