Draft: All-Time IPL Draft

[Yash.]

Okay so it's my chance...

I'm gonna go a different route here. Everyone's going for previous era players, so I might as well go for a current one.

ANDRE frickin' RUSSEL

Statistics

Batting :- 5679 runs @ 26.78 (2 100s, 21 50s, Best 121*) at a strike rate of 169.06 and hitting 447 sixes

Bowling :- 300 wickets @ 26.07 (8 4WI, BBI 4/11) at a strike rate of 18.8


Okay, so is there a better striker of the cricket ball than Andre Russell? Ignoring his lean patch in the IPL 2020, he has been the back-bone and the soul of the KKR team in IPL as he was the lone warrior in 2019, whether it was playing super-charged innings to chase down 57 in last 3 overs, or playing sensible innings to make sure KKR made through the 20 overs. He did it all.

Add to that his quick (and I mean it) bowling when he is fully fit, he enters the side both as a complete bowler and a complete batter.

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. Andre Russell
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

[DOUBLEPOST=1603567046][/DOUBLEPOST]@Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Oh goodness, this is a huge opportunity here. All of the current-era Indian players are still available, and all but one of the current-era overseas and past-era Indians. I've got a huge amount of thinking to do

 

[Aislabie]

Okay so I had a good think and I've made my choices. I think. Ish.

Chris Gayle
Twenty20 stats - 13,422 runs @ 38.13 (SR: 146.73, 22 centuries, best 175) in 408 matches

For every Test and first-class batting statistic, there is Bradman either at or adjacent to the very top of the table. He stood so far above his peers as to be without equal. The same is true of Chris Gayle in Twenty20 cricket: Chris Gayle has 22 centuries, the next best has 8. He has 10,000 runs in boundaries; only two other players have 10,000 runs overall. And so on, and so forth. There is Gayle, then there is daylight, then there are the rest.

AB de Villiers
Twenty20 stats - 8942 runs @ 37.57 (SR: 150.79, 4 centuries, best 133*) in 320 matches

AB de Villiers is a batsman who hits the ball wherever he chooses. It's that simple - if he's motivated, you could bowl anywhere to him, and he could hit whatever you've bowled anywhere he likes. The two variables are completely independent of each other, and that's unique. For my mind, these are the two best Twenty20 batsmen so far in the format. For me, he'll bat four and keep wicket.





@Yash.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Oh two awesome picks already in that XI!

 

[Bevab]

Looks like someone did not want to miss out on AbD again!

 

[Yash.]

Since @Aislabie poached the pick (AB de Villiers) I was gonna go for, I’m gonna go for one whom Aislabie always picks in any draft...




MIKE PROCTER

Yeah yeah, I’m going for him. Another pace bowling all rounder, this time more of a bowler. He never player ODI cricket, let alone T20 , but if he would have, then he must’ve been remembered as the best all rounder ever to play cricket (maybe after Sobers).

As said in the Wisden Almanack of 1982, Procter could bowl at 100 mile an hour, of the wrong foot, again and again for the whole day, so good luck to any batter trying to face his delivery without any caution. Need spin bowling options? He could also bowl great off-spin if the team needed it.

And his batting... He was swash-buckling, destructive but at the same time classical and consistent. As Wisden claims, the only reason he wasn’t known as a good batter was because Gloucestershire was in need of his wickets and not his runs.

He’ll play similar to the way Pat Cummins is playing for KKR in 2020 IPL. Smash the ball big when needed, and bowl all the difficult overs. Imagine facing a fully fit Russell at one end, and Mike Procter at another... Batters, beware

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. Andre Russell
6. ?
7. Mike Procter
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

[DOUBLEPOST=1603636636][/DOUBLEPOST]@The Real Modi

 

[Aislabie]

Yep, he was my next target

 

[Yash.]

@CerealKiller can go ahead now

 

[CerealKiller]

Virat Kohli. Enough said.

CerealKiller’s XI
1.
2. Virat Kohli
3. Zaheer Abbas
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

@Bevab

 

[Bevab]

Fairly easy choice for me, MS Dhoni is arguably India's greatest wicket-keeper batsman in all formats of the game and given the paucity of world-class options in this particular area, I'll take him more than happily. This is before considering his other pros such as being the second most successful captain in IPL history with a team that wasn't anywhere near the other sides in terms of stardust, a finisher par excellence who made sure that he always remained at the end to guide his team home successfully in most games. His strike-rate may appear slightly low when you compare with other middle order players in IPL history but this is due to his playing style and the more sluggish nature of the Chepauk pitch. When required, he can ramp it up as much as required as evidenced by many of his miraculous heists in the years gone by.

In my side Dhoni will bat at either five or six depending on the makeup of the team and the situation of the game. And of course, he shall be the captain of my side. I shall try my best to make a lineup that suits his style of leadership and identity.

@Bevab's Blasters

1. Don Bradman
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. MS Dhoni
   
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

@Parth D to follow.

 

[Aislabie]

Index updated; @Parth D is next and @The Real Modi still has a late pick to make as soon as he's available

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Is Wasim Akram eligible @Aislabie

 

[Aislabie]

Is Wasim Akram eligible @Aislabie

Of course! And although he did appear in five Twenty20 matches, they came on a short Hampshire stint after he'd already retired from everything else so I'll rule him as a pre-Twenty20 player

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Wasim Akram

__________________________________
​

@Parth D 's ALL TIME IPL XI​

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?
6. Sir Garfield Sobers
7. ?
8. Wasim Akram
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

@NePtuNe Gaming you go.

 

[Neptune]

The single most important ball for a bowler in t20s is the yorker. And Waqar Younis bowled them before they were cool.
Full. Straight. Fast. The perfect combination for a death bowler. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would be amongst the finest t20 bowlers ever if he played in this era.

Neptune's 11
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Kapil Dev
8.
9.
10.
11. Waqar Younis

@mohsin7827 is up next