Suryakumar Yadav was asked to pick his all-time IPL XI in interaction with Harsha Bhogle. While there was no place for CSK skipper MS Dhoni, both RCB skipper Virat Kohli and MI skipper Rohit Sharma made the cut. IPL might have seen Mumbai Indians winning two back-to-back titles but as far as the win percentage per season is concerned, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) still remain the top side, all thanks to MS Dhoni, their talismanic skipper.
MS Dhoni isn’t just an awesome skipper but also arguably one of the finest finishers in the game and one of the best wicket-keepers there have been ever. Yet, MS Dhoni found no place in Suryakumar Yadav’s all-time IPL XI.
Suryakumar Yadav Picks Both Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli In XI While Jos Buttler Is The Keeper As There Is No Place For MS Dhoni
Suryakumar Yadav was asked to pick his all-time XI from the extravagant T20 league but with two conditions. The first condition was that he had to pick himself in the XI. The second condition was that a maximum of four Mumbai Indians players could be selected in the XI.
At the top of the batting order, Suryakumar Yadav picked Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler and Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. With the selection of Jos Buttler, the wicket-keeper’s spot was also filled in his XI.
Suryakumar Yadav Picked Ravindra Jadeja And Rashid Khan As Two Spinners
Suryakumar Yadav picked a total of three all-rounders in his all-time IPL XI — Mumbai Indians’ Hardik Pandya, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Andre Russell, and Chennai Super Kings’ Ravindra Jadeja. While Hardik Pandya and Andre Russell are seam-bowling all-rounders, Ravindra Jadeja is the sole spin-bowling all-rounder.
The world’s current best spinner in T20 cricket, Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan came in next in the team. Rashid Khan has unarguably been the most dominant spinner in the T20 league over the last few years.
Scoring runs against him still remains one of the most tricky tasks for batters as his economy rate is the least in IPL history. Two mainstream pacers were picked by the Mumbai Indians batsman to wrap up the XI. The pacers were Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah and Punjab Kings’ Mohammed Shami.
Suryakumar Yadav returned to Mumbai Indians for the 11th season of the IPL 2018 and immediately made an impact. Bought for INR 3.2 crore, the Mumbai batsman used his ample knowledge of the Wankhede Stadium pitch and made full use of the opportunities given to him. Asked to open the batting, he excelled in his role and scored over 500 runs in 2018, including four fifties.
Used as a middle-order batsman by Kolkata Knight Riders, Suryakumar Yadav’s new role with MI was a game-changer. Facing the new ball, he looked at ease and handled the situation well. In 2019, he amassed 424 runs to be MI’s second-highest run-getter. He outperformed himself in the 2020 season scoring 480 runs at a strike rate of 145 and went on to make his T20 International debut later for India.
Here’s Suryakumar Yadav’s XI:
Jos Buttler (WK), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, AB Devilliers, Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, Ravindra Jadeja, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami