The excitement for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has started building. In what will be the 16th edition of the T20 league, some former Indian players came together to compile a list of players who according to them fit the ‘XI of all time’ category. Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers etc. were all involved but when it came to picking the captain of the team, opinions started to differ. The choice was between the current India captain Rohit Sharma and the great MS Dhoni, and it became a touchy subject.
The likes of Pragyan Ojha, Robin Uthappa, Aakash Chopra, Suresh Raina, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel etc came together for a show on Jio Cinema where they got voted to pick their all-time XI.
In terms of captaincy, Ojha picked Rohit Sharma over MS Dhoni purely because the Mumbai Indians skipper has won more trophies than his Chennai Super Kings counterpart.
“If you are trying to compare them, they are quite similar. They are both bowlers’ captains. I am going by titles only because in this comparison, Sharma has more titles than MSD. When you Talking about all-time, Ojha said, winning five titles in 15 years is no mean feat.
As far as selection is concerned, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli came in as the two openers. When the topic of No.3 batsman came up, suggestions of KL Rahul came up but Uthappa argued that the Karnataka batsman is yet to face the ‘test of time’.
Uthappa said, “When you are selecting these players, the test of time is also a factor. KL has a lot of time left in him and still has a lot of cricket to play.”
Hence, Suresh Raina came in at No.3 spot. He was followed by Rohit Sharma at number 4. 4, AB de Villiers and No.5 and MS Dhoni at No.6.
Talking about the remaining places, the names of Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal came to the fore. Jasprit Bumrah and Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga complete the XI.
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