An esteemed panel of Lawrence Booth, Wisden Almanack editor, and Phil Walker, Jo Harman, and John Stern, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief, magazine editor, and editor-at-large respectively, pored over the selections for over an hour in a debate chaired by regular WCW host Yas Rana.

One of the most contentious areas of debate concerned the identity of the team’s spin bowler, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Yasir Shah, Rangana Herath, Nathan Lyon, and Graeme Swann all mooted at one point or another. This is how the discussion unfolded:

Phil Walker: I’ve picked Yasir Shah. 37 Test matches, not a huge selection there, granted, but 207 wickets from 37 games… he averages five and a half wickets a game. The only leggie in the longlist, three 10-wicket hauls in those 37 games, and a personal favourite of mine is his 6-72 at Lord’s to win that game in 2016. That will always stay with me, spinners always struggle to take wickets at Lord’s. We all know leggies struggle to take wickets in Test cricket full stop.

I know that he’s had a dud year, it may be that he’s losing the magic, it may be that there are technical problems, but I think his record is good, very good – he’s a match-winner. He’s a leg-spinner doing almost the impossible in this era of dart-bowling finger-spinners. He’s my little bit of romance in there.

John Stern: I went for Lyon. He’s an impressive cricketer. The volume of wickets, he’s won matches, he’s won matches around the world.

JH: You could argue that he’s the most adaptable of those spinners. He’s got a good record in Australia for a finger spinner.

PW: Lyon averages around 32. It’s the highest of the six spinners of this decade if you’re just looking at wickets taken. I would personally be a bit uncomfortable having him in this side. I think he has been shown up here and there, you’d expect his record in Asia to be absolutely brilliant and it’s not. In England, he did struggle a little bit. I personally wouldn’t be throwing the hat in the ring for Nathan Lyon. Ashwin is very persuasive.

JH: I think Ashwin is probably the most persuasive because he does offer solid runs. I’d be more comfortable with Ashwin than Lyon even if Herath is still my number one pick.

PW: Herath’s modest record in India is interesting.

YR: Small sample size though.

LB: Trouble with Swann, it’s similar to the Prior debate, it’s a bit Anglo-centric. ‘Well he was part of the England team that went to the top of the world eight years ago.’ The rest of the world probably wouldn’t be very impressed with that argument.

PW: I would also add that he was great in 2012 in India but I think Panesar out-bowled him. Certainly shoulder-to-shoulder at that time. I’m comfortable with Swann missing out.

Eventually, the panel decided on Ashwin as the side’s sole spinner. To hear how they selected the rest of the XI, either listen below or head to the Podcast App or Spotify.