Harsha Bhogle picks his IPL team of the season; overlooks Virat Kohli and Andrew Tye

With the culmination of the playoffs yesterday which saw a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad battle their way to a hard-fought victory against Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens to secure a place in the finals opposite Chennai Super Kings, we draw near to the end of IPL 2018. This year we saw a number of new players emerge to lead their respective teams to victory across the entirety of the tournament in a bid to make it to the playoffs. Records were smashed, benchmarks were set and there was a whole lot of entertainment on display for audiences the world over this season.

Renowned sports journalist, Harsha Bhogle in tandem with Cricbuzz, recently revealed his IPL team of the season which comprised a list of eleven players who according to him have been a class apart from the others. The list begins with openers KL Rahul of KXIP who amassed a total of 659 runs at an average of 54.91 and a rather shocker in the form of Sunil Narine of KKR who had a strike rate of 189.89 at the top of the order. At number three, Bhogle opted for the orange cap holder and the ever-reliant Kane Williamson who has been magnificent for Sunrisers Hyderabad this year in the absence of David Warner.

At number four, he chose the explosive young talent of DD’s Rishabh Pant who emerged as one of the most promising players to watch out for in this format of the game. Pant notched up 684 runs which also included a stunning innings of 128*. The fifth and sixth slots were the most interesting choices, as Bhogle opted for two wicket-keepers in the form of CSK skipper MS Dhoni and KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik. Both batsmen enjoyed an above-average season this year and led their teams equally well throughout the course of the tournament.

At number seven, Bhogle opted for another KKR player in the form of West Indian powerhouse Andre Russell and followed that up with Rashid Khan. Especially after yesterday’s outing where Rashid was clinical with the bat and ball as well as produced two stunning catches and a run-out as well.

For the three pacers, Bhogle went for RCB’s Umesh Yadav who was clinical in the opening powerplay stage where he picked up the most wickets and for death-over specialists Jasprit Bumrah of Mumbai Indians and SRH’s Siddarth Kaul to complete the team of the season.

He opted to leave out the likes of RCB skipper Virat Kohli and purple cap holder Andrew Tye of KXIP who is still leading with the most number of wickets at 24.