Virat Kohli
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar joined the bandwagon of veterans and analysts picking their best XI from the league phase of the ongoing IPL 2020, which has now heading into the penultimate match where Delhi Capitals will take on 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad with the winner slated to take on defending champions Mumbai Indians.
Manjrekar, in conversation with ESPNCricinfo, picked the Kings XI Punjab pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal as his openers. Rahul has scored 670 runs in 14 matches and is still the Orange Cap holder, while Mayank was even more impactful with his tally of 424 runs. The top-order was completed wite Suryakumar Yadav at No.3 who scored 461 runs for Mumbai Indians in 15 matches.
“My No. 3 is Suryakumar Yadav, which is great for someone like him to have made it to this IPL XI. He bats at No. 3 and I don’t think any No. 3 has batted as well and as consistently as he’s done. It’s not just about runs and consistency but also about the quality of shots as well that he’s played,” said Manjrekar.
He added AB de Villiers and Nicholas Pooran for the middle-order and extended his batting line-up with the inclusion of two hard-hitting bowling all-rounders - Axar Patel and Rashid Khan, who have both been impressively economical in the middle overs throughout the tournament.
Manjrekar completed the spin lineup with the addition of Yuzvendra Chahal and added two pacers to the bowling unit - Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah.
Sanjay Manjrekar’s IPL 2020 XI: KL Rahul (WK), Mayank Agarwal, Suryakumar Yadav, AB de Villiers, Nicholas Pooran, Axar Patel, Rashid Khan, Jofra Archer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
