Indian Premier League (IPL)

[prasen9]

Batting leaders (BI/inn): Kohli, Riyan, Ruturaj, Abhishek, Sanju, SkAY, Patidar, Sai.

Of these, we have chosen Kohli, Sanju, and SkAY. So, basically, IPL form has been used a bit to confirm Kohli, reward Samson, and the rest have been ignored.

Bowling leaders (BI/match): Bumrah, Sandeep S., Kuldeep Y, Harshit Rana, Varun C., Swapnil S., Bhu Ku.

Interesting to see oldie Bhuvi holding up. Of these again, Bumrah, Kuldeep Y. were selected. The rest ignored. These two would have been in the team anyway. Given that Varun C. now bowls a legbreak or legcutter too, maybe we should try him again in T20Is. Harshit Rana has been impressive. Of course, I am a KKR fan. So, read my comments with that caveat.

Sandeep Sharma has toiled for long. He will perhaps never be recognized.

Mayank Y. got injured. Kuldeep S. played only three matches. These two did well in limited matched. Is Kuldeep S. injured too? I have not kept track. Mayank Y. needs to figure out his fitness.

[prasen9]

Batting leaders (BI/inn): Kohli, Riyan, Ruturaj, Abhishek, Sanju, SkAY, Patidar, Sai.

Of these, we have chosen Kohli, Sanju, and SkAY. So, basically, IPL form has been used a bit to confirm Kohli, reward Samson, and the rest have been ignored.

Bowling leaders (BI/match): Bumrah, Sandeep S., Kuldeep Y, Harshit Rana, Varun C., Swapnil S., Bhu Ku.

Interesting to see oldie Bhuvi holding up. Of these again, Bumrah, Kuldeep Y. were selected. The rest ignored. These two would have been in the team anyway. Given that Varun C. now bowls a legbreak or legcutter too, maybe we should try him again in T20Is. Harshit Rana has been impressive. Of course, I am a KKR fan. So, read my comments with that caveat.

Sandeep Sharma has toiled for long. He will perhaps never be recognized.

Mayank Y. got injured. Kuldeep S. played only three matches. These two did well in limited matched. Is Kuldeep S. injured too? I have not kept track. Mayank Y. needs to figure out his fitness.

[prasen9]

Batting leaders (BI/inn): Kohli, Riyan, Ruturaj, Abhishek, Sanju, SkAY, Patidar, Sai.

Of these, we have chosen Kohli, Sanju, and SkAY. So, basically, IPL form has been used a bit to confirm Kohli, reward Samson, and the rest have been ignored.

Bowling leaders (BI/match): Bumrah, Sandeep S., Kuldeep Y, Harshit Rana, Varun C., Swapnil S., Bhu Ku.

Interesting to see oldie Bhuvi holding up. Of these again, Bumrah, Kuldeep Y. were selected. The rest ignored. These two would have been in the team anyway. Given that Varun C. now bowls a legbreak or legcutter too, maybe we should try him again in T20Is. Harshit Rana has been impressive. Of course, I am a KKR fan. So, read my comments with that caveat.

Sandeep Sharma has toiled for long. He will perhaps never be recognized.

Mayank Y. got injured. Kuldeep S. played only three matches. These two did well in limited matched. Is Kuldeep S. injured too? I have not kept track. Mayank Y. needs to figure out his fitness.

[prasen9]

Batting leaders (BI/inn): Kohli, Riyan, Ruturaj, Abhishek, Sanju, SkAY, Patidar, Sai.

Of these, we have chosen Kohli, Sanju, and SkAY. So, basically, IPL form has been used a bit to confirm Kohli, reward Samson, and the rest have been ignored.

Bowling leaders (BI/match): Bumrah, Sandeep S., Kuldeep Y, Harshit Rana, Varun C., Swapnil S., Bhu Ku.

Interesting to see oldie Bhuvi holding up. Of these again, Bumrah, Kuldeep Y. were selected. The rest ignored. These two would have been in the team anyway. Given that Varun C. now bowls a legbreak or legcutter too, maybe we should try him again in T20Is. Harshit Rana has been impressive. Of course, I am a KKR fan. So, read my comments with that caveat.

Sandeep Sharma has toiled for long. He will perhaps never be recognized.

Mayank Y. got injured. Kuldeep S. played only three matches. These two did well in limited matched. Is Kuldeep S. injured too? I have not kept track. Mayank Y. needs to figure out his fitness.

[prasen9]

The board was hanging up and I pressed submit a few times. Now, I have the same post four times and cannot delete any of them. A mod please help.

[SaniaFan]

It is actually eight times and not four. Kind moderator please help!

[gunsnroses]

Wow RCB really looking like a top team now. On the verge of 6 consecutive wins and getting into the playoffs.

[prasen9]

So, after the regular season, here are the top performers.

Batting Impact/Inning: Kohli, Abhishek, Parag, Gaikwad, Sanju, Patidar, Sudarshan, SkAY

Kohli replied after getting dropped almost. Good for him. I hope he plays the T20WC with the same sense of urgency. Abhishek, Parag, and Gaikwad played well almost throughout. As did Sanju. Patidar did very well in the last stages and he and Kohli moved Bangalore to the playoff.

[prasen9]

KKR moves into the final. I am hoping actually that RCB comes through to the final and then loses. (as a Kohli fan , but KKR comes first, of course).

[prasen9]

Kudos to Ravichandran Ashwin. What a performance! I would slightly prefer SRH than RR at this point as the opponent.

[prasen9]

So, on the batting side the leaders (by BI/inn) remain the same:

Kohli, Parag, Abhishek, Patidar, Sai S., Sanju, Yashasvi, SkAY

and on the bowling side:...

Bumrah, H. Rana, Kuldeep, Varun, Sandeep S., Harshal, Rahul C.

Interesting that Rahul C. was the best of the right-arm leggies. Of course, the selectors cannot look beyond the failed Chahal.

Best total impact/match (among allrounders even though they may not have bowled much): Abhishek, Axar, Parag, ..., Jadeja

Basically, no pace-bowling allrounder did well.

Backup keeper: Rahul

The selectors ignored the superb performances, consistency and calibres of Parag and Abhishek. We will see if this was the right decision. Imho, it was not.

Rahul's performance was ignored and Pant leap-frogged over him despite poor performances in T20Is and in this IPL. Well, nepotism and hype is well and alive.

[Atithee]

How is Pant a nepo choice?

[prasen9]

How is Pant a nepo choice?

First, Pant has a horrible record in T20Is, among the worst along with Kishan. Second, he performed worse than Rahul in this IPL. Given that he does not deserve a spot based on performance, for a choice to be a nepo choice, now one has to establish that he has family, friends, or associates who selected him. I cannot prove that he is friends with the selectors, Rohit, or Rahul or Jay Shah or whoever had a hand in the selection but he is at least friends with Rohit, etc. So, that last leg is a bit iffy if you say so is Rahul I suppose.

Anyway, Pant is a thoroughly undeserving choice. He failed multiple times to take his team to a win and was actually slow enough to sabotage his team's chances this IPL.

Choosing based on hope and choosing failures, in the long run and over a set of championships, is bound to fail as it always has. See SkAY in this year's ODI WC. Pant is the T20 version of SkAY. On the probabilities, this will fail again. For the sake of India, I hope we hit a fluke when due to random variation he performs better on the day we need him.

[prasen9]

Man of the Tournament (my choice): Sunil Narine
Runner-Up: Bumrah

These two are clear. For the #3, I am partial. I would choose Andre Russell. The two WIans brought the cup to Kolkata even though there were contributions across the board. For the #3, Fraser-McGurk, Kohli, Kuldeep Y., Abhishek could lay claims but I am tipping things to Russell over Fraser-McGurk, who did not play a full quota of games but was superb in the ones he did.

I would like to see Rana given a shot at the A-team along with Abhishek and Parag, who most possibly will be given a chance in the higher levels.

My XI: Fraser-McGurk,Narine, Kohli, Abhishek, Head, Pooran, Russell, Sam Curran, Rana, Bumrah, Varun C.
Impact Player: Stoinis

[SaniaFan]

But this team does not follow the IPL restriction of 4 foreign players. What would be your team with IPL restrictions