Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina pick combined MI-CSK XI; leave themselves out of the side
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, on Thursday, picked their combined Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings XI, one that included the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Matthew Hayden. The duo interestingly left themselves out of the side and instead opted to take up the coaching role.
After a dull start to the Indian Premier League, finishing outside the Top four in each of the first two seasons, Mumbai Indians’ rise as an IPL powerhouse started in 2010, when they reached their first ever IPL Final. On that instance, the side was downed by a spirited Chennai Super Kings team and that marked what was the beginning of the tournament’s best and biggest rivalry. The two teams, eventually, went on to clash in three more finals - 2013, 2015 and 2019 - with Mumbai coming out as victors on all three occasions and their rivalry has grown into the biggest and most-anticipated one in the IPL, if not in all franchise cricket.
Thus, an Instagram chat between Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, two of the biggest names in the Mumbai and Chennai franchise respectively, is bound to have chatter about their IPL teams and so, unsurprisingly, the duo, on Thursday, decided to pick their all-time Chennai and Mumbai combined XI.
The opening slot is occupied by legendary openers Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar, both of who won the orange cap during their playing days, while at No.3 and No.4 are Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu. Rayudu, incidentally, represented both the franchises at different stages of his IPL career. At No.5 and No.6 and No.7 are the explosive trio of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and MS Dhoni, while Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo occupy the all-rounders’ slots at No.8 and No.9. The team is capped off by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who, like Rayudu, played for both franchises, and tearaway quick Jasprit Bumrah.
While both Rohit and Raina voluntarily opted out of the playing XI, they did, however, state that both of them would function as coaches - Raina as the fielding coach of the team and Rohit as the batting coach. The duo also added that Dhoni would be leading the side whilst also taking up the gloves. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, who is the all-time wicket-taker in the history of competition and also bowled the last over in MI’s triumphant campaign in 2019, is a notable absentee in the power-packed side.
Rohit-Raina’s combined MI-CSK XI: Matthew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk) (c), Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.