Best IPL XI

So, the first season of IPL comes to a close. After sacrificing sleep for the last theree days, I am seeing stars at work (those spreadsheets never looked so pretty!)but if I had to do it again, I would not change a thing! Congrats to the Rajasthan Royals for breaking my heart yesterday but as a Chennai supporter, I was very happy to see a good game of T-20 cricket. The fact that we took it till the last ball against the best team of the tournament was enough to keep me satisfied. Moreover, in some way, it would have been a grave injustice had Chennai won the trophy after putting some very unconvincing displays in the round-robin stages. Better team selection (too many poor fielders to hide) and better strategy (why on earth would you send Kapugedera ahead of Badrinath!!!) would see Chennai challenge again next year.

I decided I would attempt to pick an all-stars IPL XI. My only criteria is that I should have seen the guys play (at least one game) and they should have played at least five games. The latter restriction rules out most of the Aussies and Kiwis but I believe it is very difficult to judge based on a few sparking performances. Therefore, messers McCullum, Hayden, Hussey etc miss out. The team will be very flexible and the batting order will be adjusted to suit the situation. It will be masterminded by one of the finest tacticians to play the game, the incomparable Shane Warne. As with the Rajasthan Royals, he shall be captain-cum-coach of this all-star team.

Without further ado, here is my team:

1. Shaun Marsh (Punjab)
2. Kumar Sangakkara (Punjab) (wk)
3. Suresh Raina (Chennai)
4. Rohit Sharma (Deccan)
5. Shane Watson (Rajasthan)
6. Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan)
7. Albie Morkel (Chennai)
8. Shane Warne (Rajasthan) (c)
9. Sohail Tanvir (Rajasthan)
10. Manpreet Gony (Chennai)
11. Glenn McGrath (Delhi)
12th man. Mohammad Kaif (Rajasthan) - only for fielding!

In temrs of flexibility, this team has plenty of all-rounders and a fine mix of theorists/purists and the unconvential power-hitters. For instance, Nos 3 - 7 will rotate to ensure there is a mix of left/right handers and purist/power-hitters at the crease.

Some unlucky omissions include: Gambhir, Sehwag, Sreesanth, G.Smith and Pollock.

The team has heavy representation from the successful franchises ie. the semi-finalists but there is no representation from Kolkata, Bangalore or Mumbai.

I believe this combination can challenge the best in the world and come up trumps more often than not.