Ever since the conclusion of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, former cricketers and experts are coming up with their own playing XI for the IPL 2020.
The latest one to come up with their playing XI is the former Indian pacer, Ashish Nehra has now come up with his best XI of the just concluded 13th edition of the Indian Premier League. While KL Rahul, who emerged out as the orange cap winner in IPL 2020, has found a place in everyone’s team as an opener. Ashish Nehra also picked KL Rahul as his opener along with David Warner. Talking to Star Sports, Ashish Nehra said:
“You go just by the tournament performance, then my openers will be KL Rahul and David Warner.”
Surprisingly, Ashish Nehra picked Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar Yadav and not Virat Kohli for the number 3 position. Explaining his decision Nehra said that though Kohli also scored runs, but he would go with SKY for his impactful performance which helped MI win the title.
For the number 4 position, Nehra picked AB de Villiers. Further, Nehra strengthened the middle-order by picking two MI stalwarts- Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya. Ishan Kishan was also given the role of the wicket-keeper.
Asish Nehra continued, “At No.3, I am not choosing Virat Kohli. It’s not that he has not scored runs but the impact runs were scored by Suryakumar Yadav, so I will keep him at No.3.
“There is no T20 team completed without AB de Villiers. So, he will be No.4. At No.5, I would say Ishan Kishan. I will also keep him as my wicket-keeper although AB de Villiers will also be an option. At No.6, Hardik Pandya.”
In the bowling department, Ashish picked Jofra Archer and Rashid Khan over Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. While Yuzvendra Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah remained the indisputable picks in any eleven. For the final position, he picked Ashwin or Shami. He said:
“After that Jofra Archer and Rashid Khan, both can bat as well. And then Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah.
“My final pick will be one of Ravichandran Ashwin or Shami. If three fast bowlers are required, I will go with Archer, Bumrah and Shami. If only two are required, I will go with Bumrah and Archer and will play Ravichandran Ashwin instead of Shami,”
Nehra also missed out on the CSK’s skipper MS Dhoni. Explaining the reason behind the same, Nehra revealed:
“My thinking is that I will never make a team without MS Dhoni, but his tournament was not good,”
Here check out Ashish Nehra’s best IPL 2020 XI:
KL Rahul, David Warner, Suryakumar Yadav, AB de Villiers, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Jofra Archer, Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin/Mohammed Shami
