Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has recently revealed his ideal all-time IPL XI and it has given rise to a lot of controversy as he has kept two of the absolute legends of the tournament, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, out of his team.
Let us first have a look at his chosen all-time IPL XI:-
Shakib Al Hasan’s all-time IPL XI: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (captain and wk), KL Rahul, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Both David Warner and Rohit Sharma have a lot of records to their name in the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma is the 4th highest run scorer ever in the Indian Premier League while David Warner is the highest run scorer in the competition among the foreigners. Rohit Sharma has also won 4 IPL trophies as a captain at Mumbai Indians and is hands down one of the best captains in the tournament ever.
However, Shakib Al Hasan has chosen former team India captain and current CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain and Wicketkeeper of his team.
Some shocking additions to the list have been KL Rahul and Ben Stokes who probably have the best days of their career left in them, especially KL Rahul. Given the fact that Shakib has selected just 4 overseas players in his team, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers might have replaced KL Rahul.
The Kolkata Knight Riders player is set to be a key part in their team for the remaining half of the tournament which commences in UAE and Oman on 19th September. KKR will start their campaign on 20th against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Maybe AB de Villiers might then persuade the Bangladesh player to make a change in his team with his performance !