Ashish Nehra picks his best IPL XI; forcefully excludes MS Dhoni

After the conclusion of the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020), many cricket pundits and former players are coming up with their analysis of the tournament and the best playing XI. The former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra is a new addition to this list as he picked his best XI of IPL 2020.

The veteran seamer made some unexpected choices as he didn’t pick the Delhi Capitals opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who had smashed two consecutive centuries in the league, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, who is the highest run-getter in IPL and the DC fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who was the winner of the Purple Cap.

While interacting on Star Sports, Nehra picked the captains of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) KL Rahul and David Warner respectively as the potential opening batters of his team. While Rahul was named the Orange cap in IPL 2020 with 670 runs, Warner was the third-highest run-getter of the season with 548 runs.

For the Number 3 position, the left-arm pacer went with Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav instead of Kohli as he feels that the former was more impactful with the willow. Surya scored 480 runs while Virat garnered 466 runs.

I will never make a team without MS Dhoni: Ashish Nehra

The lanky pacer chose RCB’s AB de Villiers for the fourth spot while he picked MI’s Ishan Kishan for the wicketkeeper-batsman slot. The power-hitter Hardik Pandya occupied the sixth spot in Nehra’s team.

As far as the bowling unit is concerned, the 41-year-old picked the spin duo of SRH’s Rashid Khan and RCB’s Yuzvendra Chahal. While Chahal picked 21 wickets, Rashid had 20 scalps in 16 fixtures.

For the last bowling position, Ashish stated that he will pick one among Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin according to the condition.

At last, Nehra concluded that Kagiso Rabada and Kane Williamson are also two good options to add to the squad. He further added that though he would love to have former Indian captain, MS Dhoni, on his side, he can’t pick him in his team owing to his poor performance in the league.

“My thinking is that I will never make a team without MS Dhoni, but his tournament was not good,” Nehra stated.

Ashish Nehra’s best IPL 2020 XI

KL Rahul, David Warner, Suryakumar Yadav, AB de Villiers, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Jofra Archer, Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin/Mohammed Shami