Sachin Baby names his all-time IPL XI; picks his Kerala teammate Sreesanth

Kerala cricketer Sachin Baby has picked his all-time XI of the Indian Premier League (IPL) picking some of the best players he has played with and against. He played most of his 18 matches in the tournament with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and has also featured for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) before. Baby scored 137 in 10 innings in the cash-rich league at the strike-rate of 135.64 and also picked a couple of wickets.

As far as his IPL XI is concerned, he picked Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle, two of the best shorter format batsmen, to open the innings. While Rohit is leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) and has won four titles with them, the latter is currently with the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and is an IPL legend.

Next up, Sachin Baby went with a star-studded trio in the middle-order while speaking to the Sports presenter Dr Yash Kashikar in ‘Say Yash to Sports’. He opted to go with his former RCB teammates Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers at three and four thanks to their exceptional ability to take the game away from the opposition.

Sachin Baby names MS Dhoni as captain of his IPL XI

The 31-year-old then selected Suresh Raina at number five handing him a dual role of a finisher and accumulator depending upon the situation. Interestingly, Raina has batted at number three for the majority of his IPL career playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (and also for Gujarat Lions). Undoubtedly, even Sachin Baby decided to name MS Dhoni as the undisputed skipper and wicketkeeper of his IPL XI.

The Kerala cricketer then picked Hardik Pandya as the only all-rounder in the team while Rashid Khan is the only spinner in his team. Adding armoury to the bowling attack, he felt it would be better to go with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mitchell Starc who are exceptional with the new ball and can also be effective at the death. The 11th and final player in Sachin Baby’s team was a bit of a surprise as he went with Sreesanth as the third pace bowler.

Sreesanth hasn’t played in the IPL since the 2013 season and was banned for spot-fixing during the tournament (allegations not proved). His ban is set to end this year in September even as Kerala has added him in the list of Ranji probables with Sachin Baby as the captain of the team.

Here’s Sachin Baby’s all-time IPL XI: Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mitchell Starc, Sreesanth.