Harsha Bhogle picks his IPL XI for the month of April

‘The Voice of cricket.’ and the voice loved by almost three-fourth of cricket fans in India Harsha Bhogle picked his playing XI from the IPL for the month of April. Harsha makes it clear that the XI he has named is not based on any reputation or on any of the pre-conceived notions. It relies purely on the current form that these players are in. AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli found no place in the team due to their form in the month of April.

Harsha named the dynamic duo of southpaws- David Warner and Gautam Gambhir, who is also the captain at the top of the order. It will be a scintillating opener pair that many teams would have dreamt of. Both the left-handers are in excellent form making it a very good decision to pair these two at the top of the order for a head start to the inning.

At no.3 is Kolkata Knight Riders’ Robin Uthappa. The consistency and the power the batsman has shown make him an automatic choice at the spot ahead of his competitors in the form of Nitish Rana and Suresh Raina. In just nine innings in the competition, Uthappa has scored 384 runs at an average of 42.67. Australian captain Steve Smith takes the no.4 position with his consistency and solidarity being the real factor for his selection.

At no.5 is the Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who is picked ahead of the West Indian Kieron Pollard. Mumbai Indians allrounder Krunal Pandya at no.6 was an easy pick for Harsha, considering his current form both with the bat and ball.

Delhi Daredevils’ South African allrounder Chris Morris is the pick for the no.7 spot for his responsible, wicket-taking bowling and his explosive batting which brings a stable difference to the team.

The no.8 position did make Harsha think hard between two young leg-spinners who have done well for their respective teams Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan. It became easy since he already picked four foreign players and thus selected Chahal ahead of the experienced offie Harbhajan Singh.

At no.9, 10 and 11 Harsha has picked Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav for their brilliant performance in the opening month of the league.

Harsha Bhogle’s XI:

David Warner, Gautam Gambhir (C), Robin Uthappa, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav