IPL 2018: Harsha Bhogle picks his IPL 2018 XI

The eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) can undoubtedly be called as one of the most exciting seasons as of now. This season has been a stunner with many nail bitters and unpredictable results. The fight for a spot in the playoffs continued till the last day of the league stage. It has been a very tight season as three teams – MI, KXIP, and RR fought so hard for the last place in the playoffs. However, it was Rajasthan Royals who made it to the playoffs.

It is not just batsmen who’ve dominated the league this year,  bowlers have done equally well. The Youngsters have made the most out of every opportunity. Spinners like Mayank Markande, Sandeep Lamicchane, pacers like Shubham Mavi, Prasidh Krishna and batsmen like Rishab Pant and Prithvi Shaw have impressed the cricketing fraternity.

Cricket expert Harsha Bhogle picked his IPL XI of the season, considering the performances of players till the end of the group stage. With multiple players doing well throughout the season, it might have been a very tough job to pick eleven players. Here is Harsha Bhogle’s IPL XI.

The four foreigners:

Sunil Narine is Harsha’s first pick. With the Carribean spinner doing well with the bat, Harsha picked him as an all-rounder. Narine has been very impressive with both bat and ball throughout the season. With being sent as an opener in most of the games, Narine did a great job in providing good starts for KKR. Harsha’s second foreigner was the Sunrisers’ skipper, Kane Williamson. Williamson has been the backbone of SRH’s batting line-up in the absence of Warner.

The third impressive overseas player is Rashid Khan for Harsha. The young Afghan’s impressive bowling has won matches for SRH. He’s been a lethal spinner for the SRH. Andre Russel was picked as the fourth foreigner in the team. Russel has always impressed with his lusty blows and also decent bowling in the death overs.

No place for Rayudu:

Opening the batting along with Sunil Narine would be the young Indian sensation, KL Rahul. Rahul has had the best IPL of his life. He has been an amazing opener for Punjab. His aggression at the top has helped KXIP win games in the initial stage of the tourney. However, things didn’t go well for KXIP but Rahul continued his form till the very last game.

Following Williamson would be Rishab Pant and MS Dhoni. Pant’s consistency has been incredible as he scored 684 runs in the 14 games he played. With MS back to form as a finisher, Harsha seems happy to have him at the number 5 spot. However, the KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik who has done pretty well as a finisher has been picked over Rayudu. Harsha has no place for Ambati Rayudu despite a wonderful performance at the top. Bhogle’s bowling line-up is filled with Indian pacers, Sidharth Kaul, Umesh Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah are the ones  Harsha picked.

Harsha’s IPL XI for the season:

Sunil Narine, KL Rahul, Kane Williamson, R Pant, MS Dhoni (C), Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russel, Rashid Khan, Siddharth Kaul, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

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