Aakash Chopra names MS Dhoni as captain of All Time IPL XI; no place for Gayle or Russell
Renowned commentator Aakash Chopra, on Monday, named his ‘All time IPL XI’ and interestingly decided to omit both Chris Gayle and Andre Russell, and named MS Dhoni as captain. Chopra’s All Time XI also featured the obvious giants Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and AB de Villiers.
After having retired from the game in 2013, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has shifted base to punditry and commentary and has, thus far, excelled in both the fields. Aside from being a commentator and analyst for Star Sports - in both English and Hindi - the 42-year-old also is an active analyst on both Facebook and YouTube and even runs his own YouTube channel where he voices out his opinions. Thus on Monday, the Agra-born former cricketer picked his ‘All Time IPL XI’ in a YouTube video.
The first pick of Chopra’s side was Australia’s David Warner, who is a two-time Orange Cap winner in the tournament, and partnering the southpaw in the side was none other than Rohit Sharma, the most successful skipper in the tournament’s history. Chopra revealed that Warner got the nod over Gayle for his consistency and revealed that he would make Rohit open in his side, despite the MI skipper pushing himself down the order for the Mumbai-based franchise.
“My first pick is David Warner, the first overseas player as an opener. You will also think of Chris Gayle, but he is not more consistent than David Warner. He has been explosive but Warner is not behind anyone. So, Warner as one of the overseas players. He has been one of the most consistent batsmen ever,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“There is no debate that Rohit Sharma would be opening alongside Warner. He started as a middle-order batsman for Deccan Chargers, then he went to Mumbai Indians where he is still there. He is the most successful captain as well but doesn’t open always when he is the skipper. But if I make an all-time IPL XI, I will make him open 100 percent.”
The prolific trio of Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and AB de Villiers occupied the No.3, No.4 and No.5 slots in Chopra’s side and the No.6 spot went to none other than MS Dhoni. The 42-year-old, interestingly, opted for Kolkata Knight Riders’ Sunil Narine as the bowling all-rounder at No.7, over compatriot and teammate Andre Russell, and picked the ever-so-reliable Harbhajan Singh as the lone spinner of the side. The deadly trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah completed Chopra’s XI.
The former opener said that he spent time thinking about who he needed to appoint as the side’s captain, but revealed that he decided to go with MS Dhoni for the veteran’s sheer experience.
“Although it would always be 50-50 between Rohit and Dhoni on whom you should make the captain, but when you look at the team Dhoni has got especially in the last few seasons, you will have to opt for Dhoni ahead of Rohit and he also has the experience of 11 years of captaincy and Rohit was not the captain initially. He was groomed as a captain by the Mumbai Indians.”
Aakash Chopra’s all-time IPL XI: David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Sunil Narine, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga