IPL 2020: Manjrekar picks his best XI; Kohli, Rabada miss out
Khan Mutasim Billah LifeEditor
Posted - 2020-11-08T11:21:19+06:00
Updated - 2020-11-08T11:25:07+06:00
Former
batsman and renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has picked 2020 IPL XI where all the expected names have been included in the team. But there have been some surprises too as
and Kagiso Rabada are excluded from the team.
Instead of
(RCB) captain, Makjrekar went for more reliable batsman this season, Mumbai Indian’s (MI)
. While at no. 4, he picked Kohli’s teammate AB de Villiers.
“My No. 3 is Suryakumar Yadav, which is great for someone like him to have made it to this IPL XI. He bats at No. 3 and I don’t think any No. 3 has batted as well and as consistently as he’s done. It’s not just about runs and consistency but also about the quality of shots as well that he’s played. At No. 4 is AB de Villiers; no matter his age, he still makes all your al-time XIs,”
Manjrekar said in a video posted by ESPNCricinfo.
And for opening slot, the 55-year old Manjrekar kept belief on Kings XI Punjab’s opening duo- KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Devdutt Padikkal missed the position despite being passed a memorable IPL debut season with 463 runs in 15 matches.
“The idea is to pick players who’ve had a pretty good IPL and I’m going to restrict myself to four foreign players and keep that discipline and make that job tougher. For the opening pair, I’ve gone with KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. It was very tempting to go for a Quinton de Kock but then I have just four foreign players and I wanted to use them very carefully,”
he said.
For middle-order, he picked Caribbean hard-hitter
and batting all-rounder Axar Patel. For pace bowling option, he went for ever reliable Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer and Mohammed Shami. While
leg-spinner
and Indian leg-spinner
made Manjrekar’s IPL XI as spin-bowling option.
“At No. 5 I’ve got Nicholas Pooran, who’s perfectly suited to bat there. We’re still to see the best of Nicholas Pooran but clearly what you’ve seen so far you can see that he’s a dangerous player,”
he said.
“When it comes to fast bowling, I’m looking at Jofra Archer, who better them him to shoulder the responsibility. Bumrah, obviously comes in and I don’t think I need to explain.”
“Axar Patel is my batting all-rounder. He flies under the radar, but this IPL, he’s delivered the match winning, little doses of impact performance to make a difference. Mohammed Shami has been great bowling in the death so he’ll be my pick. I’ll go with KL Rahul as my wicketkeeper batsman.”
Sanjay Manjrekar’s IPL XI:
1. KL Rahul (wk), 2. Mayank Agarwal, 3. Suryakumar Yadav, 4. AB de Villiers, 5. Nicholas Pooran, 6. Axar Patel, 7. Rashid Khan, 8. Jofra Archer, 9. Yuzvendra Chahal, 10. Mohammed Shami and 11. Jasprit Bumrah.