Former Indian hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag picked his choice of top-five batter, who has impressed him the most in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. The Former Indian opener has ignored the likes of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Shubman Gill in his list of top 5 batters.
In this edition of the IPL, Many young batters have put an excellent display batting to showcase their talent on the big stage, especially with Indian youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, and Jitesh Sharma performing for the team in crunch moments to make a name for themselves in IPL 2023.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag picked his choice of five batters in the IPL 2023, as he ignored the opening batters stating that they get a lot of opportunities to bat in the powerplay and picked Rinku Singh as the first batter who impressed him the most, especially with finishing skills followed by the CSK batter Shivam Dube as he played with a proper game plan to take on spinners in middle overs.
“Mere 5 Pandavas. Cricket’s Pandav. My pick for five batters in the IPL. I have not picked many openers because they get a lot of opportunities. The first batter who comes to my mind is Rinku Singh. I don’t think you would ask me the reason. Because it has never happened that a batter has won the team a match by hitting five straight sixes. Only Rinku Singh has done it,” he added.
“The second middle-order batter is Shivam Dube. He has hit 33 sixes, his strike rate is over 160. The last few seasons have not been special but this year he came with a clear-cut mindset that he has to come and hit sixes,” Virender Sehwag said in Cricbuzz.
Rinku Singh has been the standout performer for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and he has been serving them as the finisher of the team Rinku has scored 474 runs for KKR this season, with an average of 59.25 and the CSK southpaw Dube has played some vital knocks for four-time champions in their way to record 10th final.
Heinrich Klaasen’s Ability To Hit Against Spin And Pace Is Rarely Seen In A Foreign Player – Virender Sehwag
As the Cricketer-turned-commentator Virender Sehwag said that he would not pick openers in the choice of top 5 batters, he could not ignore the performance of young Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rajasthan Royals as the openers played an integral part of the 2022-finalist winning few games for his side single-handedly in IPL 2023 and went to pick Mumbai Indians 360-degree batter Suryakumar Yadav, who has done exceptionally well in the middle and death overs for the five-time champions.
“The third is a brilliant opener. I have to take his name because his brilliant batting has forced me to pick him up. Yashasvi Jaiswal. Then comes SKY. I am taking Suryakumar Yadav’s name because he was not in form. In international cricket, he was getting zeroes. In IPL also he was not doing well at the start, but then he started doing well.
Jaiswal has been the standout performer for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023 season and has scored 625 runs in 14 matches at an average of 48.08 and Suryakumar played a vital in taking their side to playoffs before losing out to Gujarat Titans on Friday.
In his choice of overseas players, Sehwag picked the lone bright spot in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting Heinrich Klassen as the choice of the 5th player in the list as he has played his heart out for the franchise in the cash-rich league without from the other end and lauded him for the ability to take on spinners and pacers at ease.
“Last, I can pick anybody by doing a toss because there are so many. But I will pick another middle-order batter and his name is Heinrich Klassen. The team he was playing for (SRH), was batting for them in the middle order, and he made the most number of runs. His ability to hit against spin and pace is rarely seen in a foreign player,” Virender Sehwag concluded.
The South African wicketkeeper has been the best batter for the Hyderabad side throughout the season, scoring 448 runs at an average of 49.78 and a strike rate of 177.07.