Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has picked the top 11 players from the 15th edition of the recently concluded Indian Premier League. Much to his surprise, the English player picked only three players from the Gujarat Titans’ title winners, leaving Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami out of his squad, despite their stellar performances in the tournament. Dinesh Karthik, who was stunned by his brilliant batting, also failed to make it to Pietersen’s playing 11.
So who influenced Peterson?
Orange cap holder Jos Buttler finds a clear mention in the playing 11 of Pietersen and Quinton de Kock of Lucknow Super Giants is second. Butler ended the season with 863 runs, including four centuries in his 17 innings.
KL Rahul is at number three. While Pietersen did not make his choice for the leadership role clear, title-winning skipper Hardik Pandya seems like an obvious choice with his ‘captain’s effort’. Referring to Pandya’s name, Pietersen lauded his captaincy skills in helping Gujarat Titans win the title.
Hardik acted with an all-rounder performance in the final as he took 3 wickets for just 17 runs in his four overs, delivering a dreamy spell. He returned to stabilize his team’s run chase with a crucial knock of 34 off 30 balls.
Based on his explosive batting performance, Liam Livingstone became the only Punjab Kings player to feature in Pietersen’s playing 11. Livingstone hit 34 sixes in his 14 innings, second only to Butler’s 45.
Gujarat’s David Miller is sixth, while ‘all-rounder’ Ravichandran Ashwin is also mentioned, thanks to an impressive campaign for Rajasthan Royals. Rahul Tewatia Pietersen plays the role of a finisher in the team.
The former English cricketer has also picked Umran Malik of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Umran won the Emerging Player of the Season award, who was impressive with his ability to pick up wickets at crucial occasions and deliver at a sustained pace that touched 150 km/h. This J&K fast bowler has been rewarded for his form India Call-up for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa.
Kevin Pietersen completed his playing 11 along with Purple Cap winner Yuzvendra Chahal and Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Josh Hazlewood. Playing his first season for Rajasthan Royals, Chahal took 27 wickets in 17 matches at an average of a little over 19 and an economy of less than 8 runs per over.
Get all the latest updates cricket news, cricket pictures, cricket videos, IPL 2022 Live Updates And cricket score Here