Franchise-wise best batsman in IPL 10

Since its inception in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been one of the most awaited events not only in India but also across the world. The IPL has been instrumental in giving youngsters the right platform to express themselves and get awarded with national call-ups. The mega-event also provides the discarded international cricketers with an opportunity to resurrect their careers.

After a strenuous auction in February, all the franchises are ready with their squads and pondering over all the possible combinations. The nature of T20 is such that the essence of the right balance is crucial to a team’s chances. As many as 60 matches will be played in IPL-10 between the 8 franchises. Since the 10th edition of IPL is just two weeks away, let us look at each franchise’s top batsman in the list below:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli

Viral Kohli broke all the batting records in the last season of IPL. He had no centuries in the T20 format before the start of the tournament and managed to get 4 centuries alone in 2016 finishing with 919 runs in 14 innings at a Bradmanesque average of 91.90, an IPL record. Kohli has been prolific in international cricket for the past 6 years but his T20 numbers have surged in the recent while. He became the first player to reach 4,000 career runs in the history of IPL during his 50-ball 113 against Kings XI Punjab last year. Initially, Kohli struggled to hit the long ball but after training hard at the gym, he has improved his ball-striking ability immensely as he finished with 38 sixes in IPL-9, the most by any participating player.

There hasn’t been any silverware for RCB in the IPL despite them playing in three finals and Kohli would want to change that by putting the runs on the board as well as his leadership. Despite the presence of Gayle and De Villiers, Kohli still is the best batsman of RCB and often puts his hand up in crunch situations.

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma

After a long lay-off due to injury, Rohit Sharma will be raring to get back to top-notch cricket. He has been the mainstay in the batting line-up of the Mumbai Indians for a number of years. Rohit has had success both as an opener as well as a middle order batsman but has largely opened in the last 2 years which arguably is his best batting position.

The Indian dasher is a prolific T20 batsman and is the highest run-getter for Mumbai Indians in all seasons of IPL. He had a fairly decent season last year finishing with 489 runs at an average of 44.45 but failed to get his team qualified for the playoffs.

Though he will be a bit rusty after his injury, Mumbai Indians will be hoping that he gets to his best early in the season. Leading the side has transformed his batting to a different level and this season won’t be any different for the star batsman.