When Manchester United stars chose a ‘cricket’ team

It is not everyday that football stars offer an insight into their lives, likes and dislikes, personal favourites besides their pre-match routines.

On Thursday, Manchester United stars Michael Carrick, Juan Mata, Guillermo Varela and Adnan Januzaj — in an initiative by HCL Technologies through their Twitter handle — decided to field the queries of media and fans alike, and vice-captain Carrick ended up picking a “Manchester United cricket team”, on the insistence of India cricketer Yuvraj Singh.

Carrick seemed intrigued when Yuvraj questioned if the Manchester United players indulged in a game of cricket ahead of their training schedule.

Centre midfielder Carrick, who belongs to England and has been playing for the EPL giants since 2006, replied in the negative saying the groundsmen did not allow “use of stumps on a football ground!”

The 34-year-old, however, was quick to add that he watched cricket, besides being a fan of Formula One, golf and tennis.

He though did not shy away from naming a cricket team and assigned roles to his Manchester United team mates Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata, David Gea and himself, essaying the roles of those in the England cricket team.

“@WayneRooney is my @josbuttler smashing it all over the place,” Carrick said referring to right-handed batsman Jos Buttler.

Big-hitting Joe Root’s part was handed over to midfielder Juan Garcia Mata, while David de Gea was chosen for wicketkeeping duties. “@Chris-Smalling is my big fast bowler bouncing the life out of it,” tweeted Carrick, who himself decided to don all-rounder Ben Stokes’ role.

“And I would be @benstokes38 doing a bit of everything #Unit-edbyHCL,” said Carrick.

Having accepted the challenge, he then asked Yuvraj to chose his football team!

Yuvraj, in turn, invited the Manchester United stars for an exhibition game, involving Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Shane Warne and Chris Gayle. “Game on!” Carrick signed off.