The excitement for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has started to build. In what would be the 16th edition of the T20 league, some of the former Indian players got together to create a list of players, who according to them, fit in the ‘All-time XI’ category. The likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Ab de Villiers, etc. all featured but when it came to picking the captain of the team, opinions started to differ. The choice was between current India captain Rohit Sharma and the legendary MS Dhoni, and it became a tricky subject.
The likes of Pragyan Ojha, Robin Uthappa, Aakash Chopra, Suresh Raina, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel, etc. got together for a show on Jio Cinema where they voted to pick an all-time XI.
On the matter of captain, Ojha picked Rohit Sharma over MS Dhoni purely because the Mumbai Indians skipper has won more trophies in comparison to his Chennai Super Kings counterpart.
“If you are trying to compare them, they’re quite similar. They’re both bowlers’ captains. I am only going by titles because in this comparison, Sharma has more titles than MSD. When you’re talking about all-time greats, winning five titles in 15 years is no mean feat,” said Ojha.
As for the picks, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli came in as the two opening batters. When the topic of No. 3 batter came in, suggestions of KL Rahul came in but Uthappa argued that the Karnataka batter hasn’t yet faced the ‘test of time’.
“When you’re selecting these players, the test of time is also a factor. KL has a lot of time left and has a lot of cricket still to play,” said Uthappa.
Hence, Suresh Raina came in at the No. 3 spot. Following him were Roht Sharma, at no. 4, AB de Villiers and No. 5 and MS Dhoni at No. 6.
As for the remaining spots, the names of Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal came up. Jasprit Bumrah and Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga completed the XI.
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