Hello, hello, hello.
It’s been a while but things are back to normal at Top Bins and it’s certainly time for some slightly more regular content. So what better way to start than the entirely novel and wholeheartedly unique attempt to pick an IPL team of the tournament.
Just for fun (read fun as nuisance), I will be adhering to the four overseas players limit, and I would like to stress that any criteria is completely unscientific and whimsical. I’ll try to pick based on players’ performances individually for the most part, but there will evidently be cases where a team getting further does some players favours (Bumrah).
Here we go.
Openers
Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals)
Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians) (overseas) (WK) ©
So yeah, where’s Mr Orange Cap KL Rahul? I really went back and forth on whether or not I was brave enough to do this, then remembered that no one’s gonna read this and that I don’t really care anyway. KL Rahul scored the most runs but did not really do Kings XI Punjab any favours.
With a strike rate of 129 (his worst in the IPL since 2015), I went away from watching KL bat with the strong feeling that what I’d just seen was not really that important. Of course, the man himself said that strike rate is overrated, but that’s exactly what you’d expect from a man with an underwhelming SR.
In contrast, Dhawan and de Kock come in at 144 and 140 respectively. That is pure T20.
Looking at de Kock first (no giggles at the back please), QDK makes his case in two parts. One is simply that he’s a brilliant wicket-keeper. The other is that I simply adore his approach to the Powerplay. The approach in this case is whacking it.
Dhawan for me was simply Rahul but better. Did he score more runs? No. Instead he simply scored at a faster rate, took his team into the Play-Offs, and didn’t clog up his team’s momentum to nurdle quick singles.
Case closed.
Middle Order
Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians)
Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians)
Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians)
I know what you’re thinking, this looks like a Mumbai Indians team sheet. My response to that is OF COURSE IT DOES. As well as crazily good bowling, Mumbai clinched so many victories through their middle order pinch hitters.
For any of these three names, you could point to several matches where they flipped the pressure immediately back onto the bowlers after a wicket had fallen. SKY brought the entertainment factor in a way that few others did. Hitting reverse ramp shots off of red-hot Jofra Archer is mental enough, let alone mean-mugging India captain Virat Kohli after the most recent round of questionable international team selections. SKY was the guy.
To paraphrase every single commentator for the last 2 months, Ishan Kishan really said ‘let’s crack it’. Quite simply Ish Kish hit the most 6s, and that’s all you need to know.
Nothing I have said already does not also apply to Hardik Pandya. Explosive, threatening, brave, everything you want in the middle order.
All-Rounders
Marcus Stoinis (Delhi Capitals) (overseas)
Rahul Tewatia (Rajasthan Royals)
Initially, I had Stoinis and Tewatia in as a sort of meme all-rounder combo. Then I started to come round to the idea of keeping them in. Looking beyond his most recent first ball dismissal against Trent Boult, Marcus Stoinis did things for Delhi that not all would think he was even capable of. Batting in both the middle order and as an opener, Stoinis came through for the Capitals when they needed him most.
This was epitomised in his Qualifier game against SRH, delivering the goods with bat and ball. I truly will miss the commentators fawning over his physique at every opportunity.
I don’t think that many people would look at the Rajasthan Royals and immediately highlight the power hitting capabilities of Rahul ‘Lord’ Tewatia. Yet that is what defined him in the 2020 season. In that fateful game against KXIP it all could have gone very wrong, and few thought he would soon be hitting five 6s off an over. Tewatia will always be a cult hero simply for this season.
Also, his bowling was pretty tidy. Particularly in his final game against KKR, not that it ended up mattering anyway.
Bowlers
Rashid Khan (Sunrisers Hyderabad) (overseas)
Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals) (overseas)
Yuzvendra Chahal (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians)
A lot to unpack here so I’ll handle the pace first. I could not find the room for Kagiso Rabada, the eventual Purple Cap winner. This largely came down to how he got his wickets in comparison to Bumrah and Archer.
Rabada performed terribly in the Powerplay, large numbers of his wickets came in the dying overs. I would rather not use the term ‘garbage time wickets’, but the sentiment may ring true. Archer and Bumrah did their talking upfront when asked to. Archer in the PP was a cheat code this season, as shown by his sterling efforts in the Altroz Power Players standing.
Bumrah was simply being Bumrah, the very best. Not always taking the new ball in the PP, Bumrah was incredible in the middle overs, getting tricky wickets which allowed MI to steamroll teams.
Rashid Khan. He’s just insane. He chokes runs, he gets wickets, he gets direct hits, he has a wonderful celebration. I was never not going to pick Rashid, and as I’ve said before I would happily watch him bowl all 20 overs.
In the spirit of avoiding the fast bowler monopoly (sorry KG and Trent), I opted for a second spinner. I came down on Chahal for the simple fact he did his job in the RCB bowling unit to perfection. I’m sure batsmen still have nightmares of his lofty delivery just wide of off stump, something which seems like perfect boundary fodder until it’s inevitably in the safe hands of David Warner out in the field.
So that’s the team. Feel free to shout at me on Twitter or in the comments about what you’d have done differently.
