IPL 2018: Irfan Pathan picks his playing XI for CSK

The Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan has picked his first playing XI for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of their opening game of the season. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to commence on April 7 with Mumbai Indians facing CSK at the Wankhede Stadium. The T20 extravaganza in India will see two of its franchises, CSK and Rajasthan Royals, returning to the fray this year. However, both the teams have built up a decent squad for the upcoming season.

Irfan has been working as the analyst for ESPN Cricinfo of late and he has analysed the squad of the most celebrated franchise in the history of IPL perfectly. He is also excited to watch Dhoni back at the helm and wants him to bat up the order to go big in the end.

Here’s the playing XI

Irfan Pathan has picked Murali Vijay and Faf du Plessis to open the innings as the former is coming back to the franchise he played before. He believed that the latter would be better off playing as an opener than in the middle order. “There is Watson in the squad as well but I would prefer Faf to open as he is better as an opener than in the middle order,” he said. He picked Suresh Raina at number 3 which was obvious as he is one of the best players in the history of the tournament.

“Then there is obviously Suresh Raina at number 3. He’s been the best no. 3 in IPL in terms of the record as well. He’s been prolific run-scorer for CSK,” Irfan said. He went with Shane Watson at 4 as he would bring more solidity to the line-up. He preferred MS Dhoni at number 5 but felt that he needs to play more deliveries and can shuffle himself in the batting order according to the situation.

“I would like to see him play more overs like 8 or 10 overs atleast. He can come in at 4, 5 or even at 6 depending on the situation,” he went on to say. Irfan picked Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja next as possible all-rounders along with Dwayne Bravo who was retained by the franchise by using the right to match card. The left arm bowler picked Harbhajan Singh as the other spinner in the team over Karn Sharma. The two fast bowlers in Irfan’s XI were Shardul Thakur and Mark Wood who are two better bowlers of the T20 formats.

Here’s Irfan’s CSK starting playing XI: Murali Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Mark Wood, Shardul Thakur

Here’s our video of the day:

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.