Indian Premier League will kick off on 31st March 2023, defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings will clash in the opening game at Ahmedabad. Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was asked to pick two Indian players he wished to play in his IPL-captained squad, he picked Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh in the reply to the question. Gambhir won two IPL trophies with Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2012,14 editions.
Left-handed batter Gambhir picked two players he wanted to be in his captained KKR squad-
“It’s a difficult question, but the answer is very simple. If I have to pick two players, I have an easy answer. My first player would be Rohit Sharma, and the second would be Yuvraj Singh. I didn’t need any other player apart from these two. I’m not saying we would be having a perfect team, but we would’ve won more than two titles (if we had these two players.), ” said top-order batter Gambhir.
Former Indian cricketer and commentator Gambhir was part of the Indian team when the MS Dhoni-led side won the 2007 &11 ICC titles. The 41-year-old Gambhir played 154 matches in his IPL career for Delhi and Kolakata-based sides. The left-handed batter Gambhir captained KKR from 2011-17, he lifted the trophy first time in 2012 by beating MS Dhoni-led Chennai in the finals.
“Rohit and I would open, Robin Uthappa at 3, Suryakumar Yadav at 4, Yuvraj at 5, Yusuf Pathan at 6 and Andre Russell at 7. You can imagine what a team that would have been. We tried our best to get Yuvraj, but that couldn’t happen,” said top-order batter Gambhir.
Virender Sehwag rates Rohit Sharma as the best IPL captain. #RohitSharma #IPL2023 #IPLSchedule pic.twitter.com/5milre68qt
— Mumbai Indians Universe (@MIUniverse_IPL) February 18, 2023
In 15 editions of the IPL, the opening batter Rohit Sharma scored 5879 runs in 222 innings with 40 half-centuries and one hundred. The left-handed batter Yuvraj Singh played 132 matches in IPL, he scored 2750 runs at an average of 24.77 with 13 fifty-plus scores.
“The only captain who gave me sleepless nights was Rohit Sharma. I didn’t need to make plans for anyone else, nor did I think much about others. Yuvraj, I think, is India’s greatest white-ball cricketer, not just because of his player of the series performance in the World Cup, but because of his vast talent and ability,” he further concluded.
Gambhir announced his retirement from International cricket in 2018, he currently is the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants in IPL. The 16th edition of IPL will see 18 double-headed games for 70 league matches across 12 venues. The winner will of IPL 2023 will be decided on May 28 between 10 teams.