Michael Hussey picks his ‘Fearsome IPL XI’, appoints MS Dhoni as the skipper

Michael Hussey, the former Australian cricketer, has named his all-time Fearsome eleven in the Indian Premier League (IPL). As the openers, he went for Rohit Sharma and David Warner. Rohit is the most successful skipper in the tournament, having won the title in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively. Warner, on the other hand, is the leading run-scorer among foreign players in the IPL.

Warner has won the Orange Cap quite a few times and also led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to glory in 2016. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, who both play for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were Hussey’s picks in the middle order. Virat is currently the all-time highest run-getter in the IPL. De Villiers has also played some match-winning knocks for his team and has shared a couple of 200 plus stands with Kohli.

Hussey leaves out Lasith Malinga

Hussey, who’s the batting coach for the Super Kings, made his choices while speaking to Chetan Narula on his YouTube channel. For his eleven, he appointed MS Dhoni, the three-time IPL winners, as his skipper. In the 10 seasons CSK has played thus far, Dhoni has managed to take the team to the playoffs every time. As the all-rounders, Hussey’s choices were Hardik Pandya and Andre Russell.

Both Russell and Pandya are brute forces with the bat and aren’t the worst with their pace bowling. Hussey went for Rashid Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal as his specialist spinners. Both the leg-spinners have been effective for their respective teams. In the fast-bowlers’ list, Hussey picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who both have ruled the roost for the Indian team as well.

Interestingly, he snubbed Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, the leading wicket-taker in the history of the tournament. In 122 matches, Malinga has picked up 170 wickets at an incredible bowling average of 19.80. He is one of the very reasons behind Mumbai’s success in the IPL. Moreover, Hussey left out the likes of Suresh Raina, Amit Mishra and some other consistent performers.

Michael Hussey’s all-time fearsome XI: 

Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah. 12th man KL Rahul