Wasim Akram picks his IPL XI; Virat Kohli to lead

With the final of the 9th edition of the IPL on its way to commence in a few hours, the former Pakistan legend, Wasim Akram took this opportunity to pick his IPL XI.

The highest run-getters of the season, Virat Kohli and David Warner have led their teams to the final of the IPL and they will play against each other for one last time this season to crown the title. Akram’s XI has Warner along with the Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma as the openers and Virat at no.3 as the skipper of the side. Rohit had a good IPL season with 489 runs at a healthy average of 44.45 and at a strike-rate of 132.88.

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AB de Villiers who has been the 3rd leading run-scorer in the tournament also finds his spot in the eleven along with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) power hitter Yusuf Pathan. Yusuf was consistent this year and one of the main reasons for the success behind KKR. Yusuf along with the Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell also finds a spot in Akram’s XI, who finished matches for KKR. Russell was effective with the ball as well, making him a dangerous all-rounder. He picked up 15 wickets from 12 matches before he was injured.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar made it to the XI, who are probably the most successful spinner and fast bowler of the season. MS Dhoni, skipper of the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) is the wicket-keeper of the squad. Dhawal Kulkarni and the mystery spinner Sunil Narine were also prominent in boosting the performance of their franchises Gujarat Lions (GL) and KKR respectively.

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Wasim Akram’s IPL XI: David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, MS Dhoni (wk), Buvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sunil Narine