We missed out the real champion: Rohit Sharma after excluding Lasith Malinga from CSK-MI combined XI

As the world is grappling with the outbreak of COVID-19, there is absolutely no certainty when the situation will get better. With that, all sorts of sporting events have been cancelled throughout the world. During this time, former and current cricketers are interacting with their fans via social media. Due to this break, many experts of have the game have come up with their favourite XI of all sorts.

India internationals– Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina– followed the trend and dished out a combined MI-CSK squad for their fans. The duo, on Tuesday, was involved in an Instagram live session where Rohit and Raina built the side.

The final result was indeed a robust star-studded side as CSK and MI are regarded as the two most successful franchises in the history of Indian Premier League. While Mumbai Indians have won the title four times, Super Kings have won it thrice.

To start off with the MI-CSK combined XI, they picked Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar as the two openers. Former South African skipper Faf du Plessis was picked next and Ambati Rayudu was assigned the No.4 spot. Furthermore, the duo picked MS Dhoni in the squad and assigned him the skipper’s role.

Rohit and Raina picked up four all-rounders in the squad– Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo. To finish off things, the duo went with the combination of Jasprit Bumrah and Harbhajan Singh. However, the exclusion of MI veteran Lasith Malinga from the side raised the eyebrows of many die-hard fans.

Lasith Malinga has been a vital part of MI squad

Known for his unconventional slingy action and pin-perfect yorkers, Malinga has been an indispensable part of the MI squad. In an IPL career spanning 122 matches, the 36-year-old pacer has scalped 170 wickets including 6 four-wicket hauls and a solitary five-wicket haul.

Taking Malinga’s stupendous record into consideration, many fans were left stunned by Rohit’s decision to exclude the pacer from the squad. However, the MI skipper, on Twitter, accepted his fault and said that Malinga’s name was missed out by him and Raina.

In the clip posted by Mumbai Indians’ official Twitter, Rohit responded by tweeting, “We missed out the real champion, Mali my bad”.

Both Rohit and Raina were set to represent Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings respectively in this year’s IPL. However, due to the indefinite postponement of the tournament, fans will have to wait a while to see both these stars in action.