Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has picked his best XI from the recently concluded T20 competitions – the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) – and compared the players between the two teams.
Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) clinched their fifth IPL title by defeating the first time-finalists Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets in Dubai on November 10. On the other hand, Imad Wasim’s Karachi Kings won their maiden PSL title by outclassing Lahore Qalandars in the final which was played at the Karachi National Stadium last week.
“When it comes to openers, I think it is difficult to separate Rahul and Babar as they played extremely well during the tournament. While Dhawan is clearly ahead of Fakhar,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel while comparing the openers.
“Hales and Yadav were equally good. There is no comparison between Hafeez and De Villiers despite the professor’s great run of form. Dunk and Kishan is also fifty-fifty and maybe slightly tilted towards Dunk. Tewatia and Imad is also a close call,” the cricketer-turned commentator added.
“Between Archer and Wiese, I would 100 per cent go with Jofra. I have no doubt about Rashid Khan, Chahal and Bumrah over Imran Tahir, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Hasnain as well. Shaheen has been outstanding but we are talking about Kagiso Rabada who is clearly ahead of him,” Chopra said while selecting his bowlers.
PSL 2020 Best XI: Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Alex Hales, Mohammad Hafeez, Ben Dunk, Imad Wasim, David Wiese, Imran Tahir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Afridi
IPL 2020 Best XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Suryakumar Yadav, AB de Villiers, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada.
Finally, Chopra opined that the best XI from IPL 2020 would beat PSL 2020 XI if the match between the two teams takes place.
“In all fairness, this match will never take place but my IPL XI has defeated my PSL XI. But an important thing to note here is that the IPL XI won because of its bowling despite Pakistan holding the edge in bowling department in the past,” he concluded.
