Team Akash/2mufc0
1. Virat Kohli (C)
2. Adam Gilchrist (WK)
3. KL Rahul
4. Rohit Sharma
5. JP Duminy
6. Kedar Jadhav
7. Chris Morris
8. Hardik Pandya
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
11 . Yuzvendra Chahal
Batting
- I have a very good opening partnership. Gilchrist is a former IPL winning captain (second highest scorer in that season) while Kohli is the higher run getter in the history of the tournament. Gilchrist will play his usual aggressive game and get the team off to a good start while kohli will look to bat through the innings and accelerate towards the end.
- The Middle Order - With the addition of Rohit Sharma, the middle order now is rock solid. If we get of to a good start Rohit could be promoted up the order. Rahul, Duminy and Jadhav are adaptable and versatile in their ability. They can hit it out of the ground or play more cautiously depending on the game situation. Duminy averages a ridiculous 70 at #5 which is where he's played most of his IPL career. He's also capable of batting further up and in case of early wickets or an excellent platform by the openers he could be sent in earlier.
- Lower Order - Morris, Pandya and Starc are all ideal players to have in this role. Morris is an extremely capable batsman with an average of over 35 and a strike rate of over 150. With the depth of batting in front of them all 3 can come in afford to slog it out of the grand.
Bowling
- Pace - Not many seam attacks can match mine in this draft. Bhuvi, Starc and Morris are lethal both with the new ball and bowling at the death. All 3 are wicket takers with quite good economy rates. They will pretty much ensure that I get both early wickets and don't go for too many runs at the death. In addition, I have Hardik Pandya who can bowl a couple of overs if necessary depending on the pitch and situation.
- Spin - In the spin department I have another wicket taker in Chahal. He's played most of his cricket on a pitch not particularly forgiving to spin bowlers or bowlers in general but his variation and bravery in flighting the ball means he's almost always in the wickets. Complimenting him will be Duminy who has a more than acceptable record. An economy rate of just above 7 with over 100 overs bowled in the IPL is very good going. You can count on him bowl 2/3 tight overs in the middle.
Opening the batting for us, are Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa. One of the best opening pairs in IPL history, in Gambhir and Uthappa we have the ideal openers to lead for us at top of the order. Uthappa would play his natural aggressive game and look to attack and exploit the first six overs during the power-play while Gambhir would play as the anchor of the team, looking to bat for majority of the innings. At one down, we have Mr 360 himself, AB De Villiers. One of the finest batsmen of this generation and the IPL, AB is the quintessential IPL batsman. Can hit shots all over the park. Spinners or pacers, it doesn't matter. An excellent finisher but at the same time, can play the role of the anchor as well if needed. By having him bat at first down, we are ensuring our best batsmen get to face as many deliveries as possible. And in case, we lose quick wickets, we have Ambati Rayudu coming in at four to build the innings further and ensure we don't lose further wickets quickly.
Kieron Pollard, Manoj Tiwary, Andre Russell and Harbhajan Singh form the middle-order and lower middle-order. Pollard is one of the best finishers in the IPL history and is extremely clutch. With him, we have a batsman who can accelerate the run-rate by hitting big shots at will. Manoj Tiwary is a very batsman of spin bowling. He can attack the spinners and look to rotate and give strike to the likes of Pollard, Russell and co during the later part of the innings to post/chase big scores. Andre Russell has the highest batting strike-rate amongst all batsmen with at least 20 innings. Like Pollard, he can score boundaries and sixes at will and is a massive weapon during the death overs as he can annihilate any bowler. Bhajji also has been a very nifty batsmen in IPL. He can get those quickfire 10 balls 20 odd runs knocks that would aid us when we are either posting a big total or looking to chase.
All in all, the batting unit is extremely good, is very balanced and is deep. It has batsmen like Gambhir, AB, Rayudu, Tiwary and co who are some of the best batsmen against spin bowling and has batsmen who could take the game to the fast bowlers and score big against them in Uthappa, AB, Pollard and Russell etc. So, pace or spin, the batting unit won't be fazed by it as it has adequate batsmen against either spin or pace. It has top-order batsmen who have a history of scoring plenty of runs and laying the foundation for the team, as all three of Gambhir, Uthappa and AB are in Top-10 Highest Run Scorers in IPL history. It then has batsmen like Pollard, Russell and Rayudu who can build upon the partnership by the top-order and capitalize it with their ability to hit big shots and score runs quickly.
THE BOWLING
Lasith Malinga and Lakshmipathy Balaji would open the bowling with the new ball for us. IPL's highest wicket-taker, Malinga, with his pace, and Balaji, with his line and length would look to fully take advantage of new ball, which would offer some early movement and get an early wicket or two. Malinga would bowl an over or two at max during the start of innings. Immediately, we would shift to Andre Russell as the first change option. He along with Balaji would look to complete the powerplay overs.
Once the powerplay is over, we would immediately introduce both the spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha. Bhajji along with being the 3rd highest wicket-taker in IPL history is also one of the most economical bowlers. He would look to stop the flow of runs at one end. Meanwhile, at the other end Ojha would look to get wickets. The 2010 IPL Purple Cap winner, Ojha is an attacking bowler who looks to take wickets. With Bhajji on the other end looking to choke up the runs and create pressure, Ojha would look to bank on that and take wickets. Both the spinners would work extremely well in tandem, especially with their right-arm off-spin and left-arm off-spin bowling. If needed, Pollard can chip in with a couple of overs as well in case a bowler isn't bowling well. The greatest death overs bowler ever, Malinga along with Russell, another good death-overs bowler and Balaji would bowl at the depth. All three bowlers are genuine wicket-takers, who can consistently bowl yorkers and also have good slower balls in their armour to deceive the batsmen.
Overall, there is no weakness in the team and with it being filled with some of the most consistent players in IPL history who aren't just one or two season wonders and have the longevity to back-up their performances in the IPL. We have 3 of the Top-10 Run-Scorers in IPL history and 2 of the Top-3 Wicket-Takers in IPL history. It has match-winners, both with the bat as well as the ball, and are clutch performers. Multiple IPL winners, players who have won IPL awards like Orange Cap, Purple Cap and Man Of The Series etc. And, in Gautam Gambhir, we have the ideal captain to lead the side!