It’s hard to pick 11 players from a roller-coaster season that saw many scintillating performances. From Virat Kohli’s 973 runs to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 23 wickets, Season Nine of the Indian Premier League (IPL), like always, saw no dearth of performers who could turn a game on its head.
While it’s heartening to see two Indians donning the Orange and Purple caps, David Warner, skipper of the champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, had his best ever outing in the league scoring 848 runs, which is only behind table-topper Kohli.
It’s difficult to leave AB de Villiers out of a T20 line-up and he picks himself with his 687 runs in the tournament, besides Ajinkya Rahane (480 runs) who was star of the Rising Pune Supergiants’ otherwise forgettable debut.
West Indies’ big hitter Andre Russell proved to be more than a handful bowler picking up 15 wickets to go with his 188 runs. And though veteran Shane Watson had a batting average of only 13.76, his 20 wickets and ability to bat anywhere in the line-up earned him a place in the eleven, supported by the talented Mumbai Indians’ youngster Krunal Pandya.
The wicketkeeper’s spot was a toss-up between Delhi Daredevils’ Quinton de Kock and Bangalore’s KL Rahul, but the South African’s consistency sealed the spot.
Crafty medium-pacer Mustafizur Rahman was the ‘Rising Star’ of the tournament, standing tall against big hitters who found it tough to get the thinly-built Bangladeshi away. He, along with Bhuvneshwar, was one of the main reasons for Hyderabad’s maiden IPL triumph.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been picked for India’s tour of Zimbabwe, is the specialist spinner in the squad, thanks to his 21 wickets in the season.
Here is Cricketnext’s IPL XI of 2016
(We played a little cheeky by bypassing the four-foreigners rule)
Captain
Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Matches: 16
Runs: 973
Highest: 113
Average: 81.08
Strike Rate: 152.03
Hundreds: 4
Fifties: 7
Vice Captain
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Matches: 17
Runs: 848
Highest: 93*
Average: 60.57
Strike Rate: 151.42
Hundreds: 0
Fifties: 9
Team: Delhi Daredevils
Matches: 13
Runs: 445
Highest: 108
Average: 37.08
Strike Rate: 136.08
Hundreds: 1
Fifties: 3
Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Matches: 16
Runs: 687
Highest: 129*
Average: 52.84
Strike Rate: 168.79
Hundreds: 1
Fifties: 6
Team: Rising Pune Supergiants
Matches: 14
Runs: 480
Highest: 74*
Average: 43.63
Strike Rate: 126.84
Hundreds: 0
Fifties: 6
Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Matches: 16
Runs: 179
Highest: 36
Average: 13.76
Strike Rate: 133.58
Hundreds: 0
Fifties: 0
Wickets:20
Best: 4 for 29
Team: Kolkata Knight Riders
Matches: 12 (8 innings)
Runs: 188
Highest: 39*
Average: 26.85
Strike Rate: 164.91
Hundreds: 0
Fifties: 0
Wickets: 15
Best: 4 for 20
Team: Mumbai Indians
Matches: 12
Runs: 237
Highest: 86
Average: 39.50
Strike Rate: 191.12
Hundreds: 0
Fifties: 1
Wickets: 6
Best: 2 for 15
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Matches: 17
Wickets: 23
Best: 4 for 29
Economy Rate: 7.42
Strike Rate: 17.21
Average: 21.30
Team: Royal Challengers Bangalore
Matches: 13
Wickets: 21
Best: 4 for 25
Economy Rate: 8.15
Strike Rate: 14.04
Average: 19.09
Team: Sunrisers Hyderabad
Matches: 16
Wickets: 17
Best: 3 for 16
Economy Rate: 6.90
Strike Rate: 21.52
Average: 24.76