Virender Sehwag
Sanath Jaisurya
Shaun Marsh
Gautam Gambhir
Kumar Sangakkara (Wk)
Shane Watson
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan
Shane Warne (C)
Sohail Tanvir
Glenn McGrath
Shikhar Dhawan(12th Man)
The explosive duo of Viru and Jayasurya is an obvious choice at the top of the order. Both batsman have enjoyed an excellent season and have scored their runs at a hair raising pace as well. The 2 leading run getters of the IPL come in next. With both Gauti and Marshie capable of attacking as well as consolidating the upper middle order has a solid look. Sangakkara and not Gilchrist is in at 5. Gilchrist hasn’t been at his best wit the gloves and 5 isn’t his ideal batting position so Sangakkara pips him to get the wicket keeping spot. IPL MVP Shane Watson follows his fellow Aussie. The power packed Pathan comes in next with a license to thrill. The batting order would be flexible enough for Pathan to come higher up to capitalize on great starts by the top order.
The bowling will be opened by the golden oldie Glen “Pidgeon” McGrath and Sohail Tanvir. Both bowlers are very capable of getting early wickets and they won’t concede too many either. Irfan Pathan, Shane Watson and Warnie all with more than 15 wickets in the tournament complete a formidable bowling arsenal.
The IPL all stars will be skippered by the colourful Warnie. Expect the proactive leggie to rejig his batting order and use Yusuf Pathan to bowl at tricky times.
Probably the best fielder this term, Shikhar Dhawan, is the 12th man. Imagine him coming on and burning up the field after McGrath finishes a spell!
The IPL all stars will be skippered by the colourful Warnie. Expect the proactive leggie to rejig his batting order and use Yusuf Pathan to bowl at tricky times.
Probably the best fielder this term, Shikhar Dhawan, is the 12th man. Imagine him coming on and burning up the field after McGrath finishes a spell!
Player of the Tournament- Shane Watson
With runs and wickets gallore Shane Watson is the obvious choice.
Best Buy- Shaun Marsh
There were several overpaid underperformers in the IPL but Shaun Marsh sure wasn't one of them. Brought by the Kings XI for pennies on the recommendation of Tom Moody, Shaun Marsh has had a brilliant IPL.
Biggest Flop- Cameron White
The huge Aussie came to the IPL with a big reputation but with just over a hundred runs and a modest strike rate Cameron White has been a huge disappointment and gets the booby prize ahead of Shoib Malik and Ab Develliers.
Best Innings- 158*, Brendon McCullum vs Bangalore
The Kiwi got the IPL of to a great start with an unbeaten 158 of only 73 balls with 13 sixes.
Best Bowling Spell- 6/14, Sohail Tanvir vs Chennai Superkings
Tanvir shot to prominence with this brute of a spell against Chennai in one of the group games.
Best Catch-
Too many to pick! You suggest one.
Best Indian Player- Gautam Gambhir
With 500+ runs at the top of the order and excellent efforts in the field my pick is Gautam Gambhir. Let me know if you would rather pick Sreesanth, one of the Pathans, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla or someone else.
Rising Star- Swapnil Asnodhkar
No one had even heard of the fearless opener from Goa, prior to the IPL. Rest Assured the 24 year old tiny swashbuckler has become one of the most feared batsman in the IPL.
Best Cheerleaders- Royal Challengers Bangalore
Mallya was critical of his think tank for not picking a good enough team but whoever picked their cheerleaders did a super job. The scantly dressed babes doing raunchy dance steps kept the Bangolreans in good spirits despite their team's horror show.
27 comments:
i think irfan pathan shud be replaced by albie morkel in the perfect team of yours... as he is far better batsman than irfan
and also he has done really good with ball...
watsay??
my pick fr the best catch is the western australian... shaun marsh... really no one knew him and luk wat he's done... orange cap and that too in just 11 games... awesome...
Can't dispute any of those choices though I would rather see a 11 with just 4 overseas stars which might be more interesting. Would have Haydos over either Jayasuriya and Sehwag but taking the IPL in its entirety, I can understand that choice. My pick for rising star would not be Swapnil Asnodkar for I think he was lucky in most of his innings but I would rather pick a Manpreet Gony or an Abhishek Nayar.
@ Neeraj
I meant catch as in the mode of dismissal.
ohhh.... hmmm... i understood as the slang 'catch of the tourney'... doesnt matter u can add this category also... lolzz..
as for the best catch of the ball... seriously there are many... many of them were fantastic... so no single choices here...
kya bhai?...back to back posts about ipl and no mention of futbol...somebody's loyalties are changing.
@ Sushant
My loyalties are strictly intact. Wait a week for the European Championships to start and the football posts will come flooding back.
A wonderful coup. Not much anybody could dispute there.
I would agree with Neeraj though, Albie Morkel is definitely a better choice than Irfan Pathan. I feel Morkel is more difficult to get away as a bowler, Irfan is a greater weapon if he opens the bowling and gets it to swing, but in the later overs not much so. Also, Morkel is clearly a better batsman.
I would also have liked to go in with Suresh Raina instead of Gautam Gambhir. Raina has got more power, which is required during the middle overs. Gautam with a short backlift hasn't got much of it. And Raina is definitely the better fielder.
But just imagine if there was a team like this..would be amazing.
You should put together a Team of IPL Hunks too! :)
great article buddy! wud disagree with the choice of sanga over gilli though, the aussie southpaw has scored more runs and is experienced enough to do well in the middle order.
albie morkel is another one i wud root for inplace of irfan, the big alrounder was one of the reasons csk got as far as they did. he bowls well at difficult times, fields well and as the ipl has shown you can never have enough btsmen!
@Ravi, Neeraj and Viren
Albie Morkel seems to be a hit with my readers but the reason I picked Irfan ahead of him is because
Pathan has been much more consistent with the ball. Albie has had good days and bad days and only really came into his own in the semi final and the final.
Take a look at the numbers:
Albie(17 Wickets in 13 games @ an economy of 8.31; 241 runs in 10 innings)
Pathan(15 wickets in 14 matches @ an economy of 6.6; 131 runs in 10 innings)
Pathan's economy rate is among the best in the IPL but Morkel frequently took a pounding in the group stages.
Have a look at their spells:
Morkel:
4 0 38 1 9.5
4 0 40 0 10
1 0 10 0 10
4 0 26 1 6.5
4 0 35 2 8.75
4 0 25 1 6.25
3 0 44 0 14.66
4 0 25 0 6.25
4 0 35 2 8.75
4 0 32 4 8
4 0 37 2 9.25
4 0 27 2 6.75
4 0 25 2 6.25
Pathan:
O M R W Eco
4 0 47 2 11.75
4 0 21 1 5.25
4 0 26 2 6.5
4 0 30 2 7.5
3.2 0 13 1 4.06
4 0 18 2 4.5
4 0 33 0 8.25
4 1 23 1 5.75
4 0 37 0 9.25
4 1 19 2 4.75
2 0 13 0 6.5
3.4 0 36 0 10.58
4 0 10 1 2.5
4 0 24 1 6
where is sachin tendulkar mate?
i know he was absent for half of the league but still his presence at the crease seriously threatens the opposition(remember the match against kings xi punjab at mumbai).so,wateva be d situation,he is right at the top order even in 20-20 as he can bind the innings together althrough the innings without taking any undue risks(modern t-20 shots slogging,scooping etc. [:)]).
@ Manish
Not even the most hardened Sachin supporter would question his exclusion from the all star team. His batting was good but not batsmen of the tournament material.
i was expecting this reply for sure(dats a reply of complte futta lover).but anyone who plays cricket seriously would be knowing how crucial is to take the innings together in a 20-20 match too.sachin is an class act and not being hardcore sachin fan but being played cricket for so long,im sure dat any cricket pundit wudn't deny the fact of presence of"GAWD" in the top order.he just have every shot in the book to tackle the best of the ball in the worst of the situation.he never allows situation to dominate over him.
if you aren't sure den just ask the young cricket stars of modern indian cricket,they will give you the best answer..........
stastics don't always give the complete picture my friend....
Your entire argument is based on what Tendulkar could do rather than what he did. No cricket pandit has included him in the top order in the team of the tournament. The team picked by the team of Setmax pandits doesn't feature Tendulkar at the top of the order or for that matter in the XI. As for popular opinion do a Google search and you won't find Tendulkar in the team on any of the blogs, forums or portals. And if you insist on having someone to hold the innings together at the top every one who has seen the IPL would pick Greame Smith rather than Tendulkar. While Tendulkar is a great player he hasn't had a great IPL. Deal with it!
And as for you not being a hardcore Tendulkar fan that is complete bluff! Pak Saale!
Try doing an IPL all star cheerleaders team next!
Nice post man! I picked a dream team before the IPL started
http://forum.sportal.com.au/yaf_postst18416_Twenty20-IPL-Dream-Team.aspx
That turned out to be goofy!
The large number of Aussies is on account of my being Tasmanian. :)
this time you are not up to task....i was hoping for a better reply.....at least set max is not a authentic source yaar(everybody knows about dat crap channel)...and regarding google search(i can't stop laughing),one thing is sure that u can find thousands of reports and article against tendulkar's or for that matter any great's career but does dat mean that he is simply a ordinary sports personale....dont go by the statistical research man...stick to the basic....and u wudn't know wat if sachin was there right from the beginning,the final result would have been entirely different....this is not what he wud have done but this is wat he has done over the years again and over again....and im not denying the fact of being hardcore fan of sachin but wateva i've said has been a true devotee of cricket rather than sachin...
if this isn't enough dan listen to the post match interview of sanath jayasuriya after dat crushing victory of mumbai indians over chennai super kings....he said"it is the best day of my life batting with sachin at the other end as i dont have to worry about the entire innings,i've to just play my natural innings".just see wat sachin inclusion has done after dat game,watever the bowling attack he faced after dat match was devastated all round the park(you can check the stats too for a sudden increase in the average and strike rate of "surya" as mumbains called him)dats y you have included him and everybody else has.But my question to all of you is where was this jayasuriya for the 1st half of the version?Can graeme smith or any other batsman can build such amount of confidence in his partner to fully bluzend the opposition?
all powerhouse cant make a balanced team for any version of the game...
(for instance see the placement of "chargers").
so,"pak saale" think once more......you will definately get the answer..
I agree that Setmax is an ordinary channel. But I request the opinions of a team of pandits that includes Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Greg Chappel.
The reason that DC din make it big was not due to their team had too many dashers, it was because none of them apart from Gilchrist scored a substantial amount of runs. And neither Shaun Marsh nor Gambhir are blind dashers. They are both batsmen that look to build an innings.
Add to all that, you being the only reader(or for that matter the only one on the internet apparently!) who is pushing for a place for Tendulkar among all the other readers and you would realise that you are just arguing for argument's sake!
So this is what you do when you are not slaving over module arrays at MB.
Neat post and intelligent choices. Just hope ki R&D office mein mein bhi blogspot khul jaye taki all of us can read more of your stuff.
Hehe! Where are you now? Meri tarah kisi Break Room mein ho kya?
Haan 1st floor waale mein. Tu kahan hai?
ground floor
ooooooofffff..... kya hua ye... o happy couple (kaifu and khanna)... ladai ghar par kiya karo yaar...
sachin is god... everybody knows... but t20... its youngistan's game... sachin buddha ho gaya... his days are gone now...
u talkin abt the environment he generates in the field... well dhoni does it better... any player can play to his best in his company... he has got that power... watsay kaifu??
Nicely written! You should join Sportal Forum, that's where a lot of people discuss sports.
http://forum.sportal.com.au
Awesome pic of cheerleaders. :)
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