The Indian Premier League is the richest and most glamorous tournament in world cricket.
But who are the best Twenty20 cricketers to have played in the IPL since it launched in 2008?
BBC Sport and The Doosra podcast asked you to pick your all-time IPL XI.
Almost 25,000 of you voted – and the results are in. Here is the dream team…
1. Chris Gayle (picked by 80% of readers)
Matches: 125; Runs: 4,484; Average: 41.03; Strike-rate: 151; Highest score: 175*
Did you know? Gayle’s 175 not out from 66 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013 remains the highest score ever recorded in professional T20 cricket.
2. David Warner (67%)
Matches: 126; Runs: 4,706; Average: 43.17; Strike-rate: 142; Highest score: 126
Did you know? The Australian was the leading IPL run-scorer last season with 692, almost 100 more than the next most prolific batsman.
3. Virat Kohli (92%)
Matches: 177; Runs: 5,412; Average: 37.84; Strike-rate: 132; Highest score: 113
Did you know? Kohli scored 973 runs in the 2016 IPL at an average of 81.10, the highest tally in a single season.
4. AB de Villiers (93%)
Matches: 154; Runs: 4,395; Average: 39.95; Strike-rate: 151; Highest score: 133*
Did you know? For those players who have scored more than 2,000 runs in the IPL, only Virender Sehwag (155) has a better strike-rate than De Villiers.
5. MS Dhoni (82%)
Matches: 190; Runs: 4,432; Average: 42.20; Strike-rate: 137.85; Highest score: 84; Dismissals: 136
Did you know? Dhoni has scored 505 runs from slogs in the IPL, 121 more than anyone else.
6. Andre Russell (54%)
Matches: 64; Runs: 1,538; Average: 27.96; Strike-rate: 186; Highest score: 88*; Wickets: 55; Average: 27.96; Economy: 8.88
Did you know? 85.5% of Russell’s 510 IPL runs in 2019 came from boundaries, the highest share of any batsman.
7. Dwayne Bravo (52%)
Matches: 134; Runs: 1,483; Average: 23:17; Strike-rate: 128; Highest score: 70*; Wickets: 147; Average: 24.60; Economy: 8.39
Did you know? Only Lasith Malinga (with 170) has more IPL wickets than Bravo, who has had more catches dropped than any other bowler (28).
8. Sunil Narine (52%)
Matches: 110; Runs: 771; Average: 17.52; Strike-rate: 168; Highest score: 75; Wickets: 122; Average: 23.31; Economy: 6.67
Did you know? Narine has taken the most wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders (122) and has the highest batting strike-rate (184) as an opener in IPL history.
9. Lasith Malinga (93%)
Matches: 122; Wickets: 170; Average: 19.80; Economy: 7.14
Did you know? The all-time leading wicket-taker in the IPL has also bowled 525 yorkers, 325 more than anybody else.
10. Jasprit Bumrah (64%)
Matches: 77; Wickets: 82; Average: 26.59; Economy: 7.55
Did you know? Bumrah bowled a competition-high 172 balls at the death (overs 17-20) in the 2019 IPL, with an economy rate of 7.7.
11. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (43%)
Matches: 117; Wickets: 133; Average: 23:71; Economy: 7.55
Did you know? Kumar is Sunrisers Hyderabad’s leading wicket-taker with 109 and is the only bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in their colours, against King’s XI Punjab in 2017.
And who missed out…?
Ravindra Jadeja (42%), Jos Buttler (37%), Harbhajan Singh (32%), Rohit Sharma (26%), Kieron Pollard (24%), Suresh Raina (24%), Brendon McCullum (24%), Yuzvendra Chahal (22%), Ravichandran Ashwin (21%), Amit Mishra (19%), Yuvraj Singh (13%), Hardik Pandya (15%), Shane Watson (13%), Irfan Pathan (6%), Piyush Chawla (5%), Robin Uthappa (4%), Shikhar Dhawan (3%).
What the Doosra team said
England keeper-batsman Jos Buttler: “It was very generous for me to even be around some of those guys. Maybe in five years’ time and some more IPLs I can push my case. But that is some line-up to get into. You should try one with only four overseas players – that team might get banned and not allowed to play.”
Comedian and Doosra presenter Aatif Nawaz: “You can’t argue with that – that’s a strong T20 team. I’m glad they’re not a real side because that would be quite frightening.”
BBC Asian Network’s Ankur Desai: “Who is even going to get past the top three or four? I think Kieron Pollard should have got a look in as well – he’s been brilliant in the IPL. I’d have also taken Rohit Sharma over Gayle.”
Women’s World Cup winner Isa Guha: “People have been watching impact players and those that set the tournament alight, and Andre Russell is one of those guys. I didn’t have him in my team because I went for consistency over 12 years of the IPL. He has only really been a part for the last four years. When he is in the mood, in the zone and injury-free, he is one of the best T20 cricketers in the world, if not the best.”
Still not picked your team? You can do so here…
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
Source link
