The IPL XI of the tournament

The fallout from Kochigate and the subsequent suspension of Lalit Modi over-shadowed the final and helped us forget to write a post naming our XI of the tournament.  We didn’t watch every game. In fact we didn’t even watch half of them, but we have seen enough to name our XI. As per the IPL rules, we have limited ourselves to a maximum of four overseas players – although we have in fact only picked three.

1.  Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai)– the leading run-scorer in the tournament was the main reason behind Mumbai’s dominance of the regular season. If he was playing for Indiain the World T20, the organisers may as well give MS Dhoni the trophy now.

2. Murali Vijay (Chennai)– Controversially (probably) selected ahead of Kallis, we have opted for Vijay because his superior strike (156.84) would dovetail better with Tendulkar than Kallis’ more methodical approach. And his 127 off only 56 balls against Rajasthan was arguably the innings of the season.

3. Suresh Raina (Chennai)– Third in the leading run-scorers list and at a strike rate of over 142 too, Raina continued his good form in the T20 format and was consistency personified. Man of the match in the final and his fielding was top-class throughout

 

 

4. Saurabh Tiwary (Mumbai)– Gets in ahead of more celebrated names like Symonds, Watson and Jayawardene. Tiwary continually provided the icing on the cake to the excellent starts usually provided for Mumbai by Tendulkar; and in the semi-final (when Sachin failed) his innings provided the platform for Pollard to launch Mumbai into orbit.

5. Robin Uthappa (Bangalore) – The muscle man who warmed up with a medicine ball was the most consistent of the kamikaze attack-at-all-costs batsmen (see post on the Lovers and the Shaggers). Uthappa can win a game in less than five overs as a strike rate of over 171 would suggest. Why is he not in the Indian T20 squad ahead of the disappointing Yuvraj Singh?

6. MS Dhoni, Captain (Chennai)– The inspirational captain behind Chennai’s success and the man that saved their bacon in the do-or-die match against Punjab. Dhoni is rapidly becoming India’s greatest ever captain.

7. Kieron Pollard (Mumbai) – The best all-rounder in the tournament. With the bat he had the highest strike-rate (185.71), with the ball he took a steady supply of wickets at a relatively good economy rate and he was electric in the field. If Mumbai had not held him back until it was too late in the final, who knows what could have happened?

8. Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai)– With a superlative economy rate of 6.10, Ashwin’s off-breaks typically gave Chennai a great start with the new ball. Ashwin was yet another factor behind Chennai’s resurgence from the mid-point of the season.

9. Amit Mishra (Delhi) – This is probably a biased choice given that Delhiwas my adopted side, but Mishra performed consistently well and took 17 wickets during the competition. To be honest, it could just as easily have been Harbhajan, Ojha, Kumble or Murali though as spin came to the fore.

10. Lasith Malinga (Mumbai)– Malinga’s ability to bowl yorkers at will is a priceless commodity in T20 and with his unorthodox action, he can be unplayable at times. Took 15 wickets and did so at a decent economy rate of just over seven.

 

11. Doug Bollinger (Chennai) – Just pips his Australian colleague Ryan Harris and Zaheer Khan. The arrival of Bollinger coincided with Chennai’s resurgence and his performance in the semi-final and final played a big part in his team’s triumph. In his first match he took two for 15 from four overs against Rajasthan. This was the match that saw 469 runs making it all the more astounding.

Comments

[Mock Wah]

I think Dirk Nannes has been missed out by most ppl.

[Mahek]

For me it's Kallis, Symonds and Ojha for Vijay, Tiwary and Ashwin.

[The Reverse Sweep]

Dirty Dirk was considered, but how can you leave out Malinga? If there is one bowler I wouldn't want to face to is the Slinger!

[The Reverse Sweep]

It was hard to leave out Kallis, but I felt that both his and Sachin's role was too similar - that of providing a strong and stable start to the innings. I felt that Vijay's fireworks approach would provide a better balance. I tossed a coin on Symonds vs. Tiwary and I admit that my anti-Australian nature maybe got the better of me as the toss became a best of three!! As for Ojha, fair point.