IPL 2021: Best India XI of the league stage in the UAE leg

The United Arab Emirates has been a terrific place to host the second leg of the Indian Premier League 2021. Across three grounds, the country has served as a great avenue to hold such a huge tournament while providing quite a lot of variety from the three surfaces.

Having said that, it has to be said that the action witnessed by the fans during this phase has been quite good. During the UAE leg of the tournament, there were many quality performers but in this piece, we will look into an all-Indian XI, based on performances only during the second leg.

The event was expected to provide good practice for the teams ahead of the T20 World Cup 2021. Let’s see which Indian players have managed to stamp their authority while giving the national selectors something to think about with their performances.

Here is the Best India XI of the UAE Leg of IPL 2021:

1. Ruturaj Gaikwad

There were some questions raised over Ruturaj Gaikwad’s position in the Chennai team after three low scores in the first three matches of this season. However, in the Indian leg itself, Gaikwad had shown that he is capable of turning around his fortunes. These performances in India had helped him in getting a place in the Indian team as well. However, his best was yet to come. 

In the very first game, he helped his team recover from a horrible start against Mumbai to a score that was competitive. On pitches that have always not been good for batting, Gaikwad has looked a touch of pure class. His century against Rajasthan Royals was the only one in the UAE leg so far. In fact, who would have thought he would end up hitting the longest and third-longest six (108 m and 103 m) in the tournament 

During the UAE leg, a lot of batters have struggled to hit big sixes because the pitches haven’t always allow such strokeplay, but Gaikwad smashed 15 in seven innings. He has also shown the template that batters need to follow on a difficult pitch and how they can maximize their chances of scoring more runs. In the UAE leg, he has scored 337 runs in seven games at an average of 67.4. 

2. Venkatesh Iyer

Venkatesh Iyer has been a revelation for the Kolkata Knight Riders. During the first phase of the tournament, KKR tried Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine as the opening partners of Shubman Gill. Unlike other seasons, KKR had failed to crack the code of batting in the powerplay which led them to have some poor batting displays. 

Upon arrival in the UAE, KKR needed a change at the top and entered Venkatesh Iyer. The left-handed batter from Madhya Pradesh had put up some strong performances in the domestic season, which helped him to get a call up in the XI of KKR. He started the UAE phase with a couple of fantastic batting displays against Bangalore and Mumbai and has not stopped since then. 

In the seven matches in which he has played so far, he has managed to score 239 runs at an average of 39.66. His ability to strike the ball and smartness on the pitch has been quite evident in the last few matches. Apart from this, he has also picked up three wickets, showing his multi-dimensionality. 

3. KL Rahul

Now, KL Rahul has batted as an opener in this tournament, but it was too difficult to ignore someone who has scored so heavily in the top order. Over the years, Rahul has been a top performer in the league and hasn’t stopped impressing everyone with his performances. Despite people coming and scoring a lot of runs, Rahul maintained his record and is still holding onto the Orange Cap, at the time of writing this. 

After having a good summer with the Indian team, Rahul resumed normal services at Punjab starting the second leg with a 33-ball 49. He didn’t get going in the next couple of games and then returned with a match-winning fifty against Kolkata. However, it was his last knock in the IPL 2021, which blew everyone apart. 

He made 98 runs from 42 balls when Punjab needed to score quickly and chase down the target set by Chennai. That knock uplifted his stature once again, showing his true class. He ended the UAE leg with 295 runs from six innings at an average of 59. His knocks may not have helped his team to qualify, but it has once again, cemented him as one of the best batters in the league. 

4. Rahul Tripathi

Ahead of the UAE leg, Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum had spoken about a positive intent that the team needed to bounce back. Rahul Tripathi’s batting in this UAE leg has been quite a good template for positive batting. Whenever he has come on the crease, he has tried to score runs and often got them in a fearless style. 

Several of the pitches in the UAE have not been conducive to batting and hitting through the line hasn’t been easy. However, Tripathi has mixed experimentation with the right amount of skill to become someone who has scored at a good rate while also making sure boundaries keep coming in during the middle overs. 

Against Mumbai, his counter-attacking knock of 74 runs from 42 balls was oozing class. He had a good run-in with CSK as well, scoring 45 runs from 33 balls. In all, during the UAE leg, he scored 190 runs in six innings at an average of 38. It was his style of batting which has been impressive and given regular chances at the top order, might see him scoring more runs. 

5. Sanju Samson

The 2021 season was going to be a step up for Sanju Samson. He was expected to come and lead a relatively weaker Rajasthan Royals. The lack of quality international stars and lack of Indian talent meant that the Royals were going to find a lot tougher than any other team in the league. But, a lot depended on Sanju Samson. 

Strangely enough, depending on Samson solely has not gone down well for any team. In the past, he has frustrated fans and experts with a lack of consistency. However, the 2021 season saw a slightly more mature side of the Kerala batter. He took on the responsibility of the captaincy and responded well with the bat and the gloves. 

In the UAE leg of the tournament, he scored 207 runs in seven innings at an average of 34.5. This included two quality knocks of 82 and 70 against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals, respectively. Having said that, he might wish to come back to next year with performances that can help his team win some matches. 

6. Dinesh Karthik

In the UAE leg, the pitches have been extremely different from the pitches on which the tournament was being played in India. In most of the UAE pitches, we have seen batters struggling through the middle and also not finding it easy to score runs at the death. So, batting at no. 6 or anywhere around that has been a difficult job so far. 

At this position, more than the number of runs, the impact of those runs is taken into consideration. Karthik has played some quickfire hands in the death overs for KKR, which have helped them have that extra factor towards the end of an innings. Especially, in the absence of Andre Russell, Karthik has provided with that boost towards the end of an innings. 

Now, the reality is finishing games and scoring quickly in the death overs is not something easy. Some days it can come off and on other days, it will not. Having said that, Karthik made 26, 12, 11, 18*, and 14*, all of which were helpful for his team’s cause. Apart from this, his wicket-keeping abilities make him quite a priceless pick for his team.

7. Ravindra Jadeja

The No. 7 has been a bit tricky for batters and bowlers in this UAE leg. Scoring runs during those phases of an innings has not really been easy. And fifth bowlers generally don’t do it quite well. But, if someone has shown that he can do both roles whenever called upon, it has been Ravindra Jadeja. He was having an unreal first leg and continued his good form in the UAE leg. 

He started the leg with a crucial inning of 26 runs against Mumbai, which may not sound a lot but was just what his team needed at that moment. He then played a blinder of a knock against Kolkata, scoring 22 runs from eight balls, which took his side to win from the jaws of defeat. He was not limited to that, he then scored a remarkable 15-ball 32 against Rajasthan. 

All of this while he was bowling economically and taking wickets as well. In total, he scored 96 runs in five innings at an average of 48. He also picked up four wickets during this phase, bowling with an economy rate of 6.44. This season, the all-rounder proved once again why he is rated so highly as an all-rounder. 

8. Yuzvendra Chahal

Since getting dropped from the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2021, the Haryana leg-spinner has turned around and responded to each and every critic of his ability. In the first leg, he had picked up four wickets in seven matches, and in the second leg, he had picked up at least one wicket in every match, at the time of writing this. 

He has changed the course of matches through his bowling and the success which RCB has had in the second leg was on the back of his performances. His bowling has been one of the talking points of this second leg as well. In seven matches, he has picked up a total of 12 wickets at an average of 12.48. His economy has been 6.09. 

With these amazing numbers, there has been speculation that he might return to the Indian team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2021 but there has been no official news yet. One thing is for sure, the dip in form which Chahal had experienced is probably over and if not for the T20 World Cup, he will definitely return to the national team soon. 

9. Harshal Patel

T20 cricket has a difficult code to crack and it has taken Harshal Patel some time to do that. But in 2021, Harshal has found a new boost to his career as he is having the season of his lifetime. In the first leg, he had finished with 17 wickets and he continued his good form in the second leg as well. 

Against Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore had a must-win game as the pressure of qualification was catching up. His hat-trick and four-wicket haul helped his team return to winning ways. He then went on to pick eight more wickets and is currently sitting right on top of the leading wicket-takers’ table. 

He has a total of 13 wickets in the second leg in just seven matches at the time of writing this. What has been impressive is his ability to deliver with the old ball in the death overs. He has regularly picked up wickets for his side and acted in crucial moments during some matches. He has managed to be a key person during all these wins which his team has got. 

10. Avesh Khan

Much like Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan is also having the season of his lifetime. Before the start of this season, Avesh Khan had played a total of nine matches in four seasons, picking up only five wickets. However, he has been the key factor in Delhi’s success this season. In the 2019 season, it was Kagiso Rabada who picked up a bunch of wickets for Delhi. 

In the next season in 2020, Rabada found a partner-in-crime in his countrymen Anrich Nortje. But, this year, both the world-class bowlers have not delivered insane numbers as they did last year. They have been consistently in the wickets column, but the job of picking up multiple wickets in each game has been done well by Avesh Khan. 

He has picked up eight wickets in five matches so far in the second leg. He also starred with three wickets each in two matches. All of that has brought his tally of wickets to 22 from just 13 matches. His economy for this season has been incredible as well, lingering around seven right through this tournament. 

11. Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah is probably the most dependable bowler in the world. In any condition, with any type of ball and against any sort of opposition, if you can expect someone to deliver, it has to be Jasprit Bumrah. He carried on his form from the first leg of the tournament and managed to do wonders in the second leg. 

During the second half of this tournament, Mumbai Indians have really struggled to find their best form but Bumrah has kept their bowling department together. During the course of the UAE leg, fans witnessed his terrific bowling display along with some remarkable spells which were of elite quality. 

In the six matches during the second leg, he picked up 13 wickets at an average of 13.76. His economy during this period has been 7.45, which is pretty good considering the fact that he is always tasked to deliver in the toughest phase of the game. He now has a total of 19 wickets in 13 matches this season, which makes him third in the leading wicket-takers list.