Shakib Al Hasan forms IPL XI of the players he played with; appoints Gautam Gambhir captain

With no international cricket being played as of yet, the trend of picking the best XIs has continued. Shakib Al Hasan has joined the bandwagon now picking his XI of the Indian Premier League (IPL) from the players he played alongside. In his 8-year IPL career, the Bangladesh superstar has featured only for two teams, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

He has also won the cash-rich league twice while with the KKR and also played the final in the 2018 edition during his stint with the SRH. Having won the IPL with the KKR two times under Gautam Gambhir, it is no surprising that Shakib has named him the skipper of his IPL XI. However, the Delhi cricketer has been slotted in to bat at three and not at his favoured opening position.

Robin Uthappa and David Warner have been chosen to open the innings with Manish Pandey, IPL’s first Indian centurion, to bat at four. The strong middle-order closes off with Shakib Al Hasan himself who can deliver with the ball for four overs as well.

Sunil Narine other spinner in Shakib Al Hasan’s IPL XI

Shakib picked the IPL XI while speaking to Cricbuzz where he went with Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell as his all-rounders. Both of them are the hard-hitters of the ball with the latter making a mark especially in the last two seasons. Yusuf, on the other hand, has been Shakib’s teammate since the KKR days and both played for the SRH in 2018 and 2019 IPL.

Sunil Narine is the other spinner in the XI who has bamboozled a lot of batsmen with his tricks. Though he opens for the KKR, Narine will bat as low as number eight in Shakib Al Hasan’s team and will play as pure bowler it seems. The three pacers in the line-up are Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Laxmipathy Balaji and Umesh Yadav. All the three bowlers are different from each other which makes this bowling line-up one of the strongest.

Here’s his Shakib Al Hasan’s IPL XI: Robin Uthappa, David Warner, Gautam Gambhir (C), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Laxmipathy Balaji, Umesh Yadav.