Former Pakistan pacer, captain, and a key figure in the Green Army’s success in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, Wasim Akram chose Rohit Sharma and David Warner as the greatest openers of the Indian Premier League history. Akram excluded Virat Kohli from his choice of opening batters even though the latter has been opening for the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a couple of years now.
Wasim Akram made these comments during an interview with Star Sports which also had the likes of Dale Steyn, Tom Moody, and Matthew Hayden as fellow panelists.
The official Television broadcasters of the IPL brought all of them together virtually to pick an all-time best-playing XI of the richest cricketing which will turn 17 years old this March.
The tournament throughout its history since 2008, has provided countless breathtaking moments but most importantly, it has garnered and given young uncapped-untouched players a platform to go on and represent the Indian national team India isn’t the only to benefit as other nations have also been benefitted from the league.
Panelists agree for David Warner and Rohit Sharma as the Greatest IPL openers
The entire panel agreed upon the names of David Warner and Rohit Sharma as the openers for the combined IPL playing XI concerning those who have performed consistently in the last 16 years.
While Warner received the maximum, 3 votes, Rohit was tied with Chris Gayle with 2 votes to their names. Among the options were Warner, Rohit, Virat Kohli and Gayle.
Former Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody was the only one to pick Kohli as the opening batsman of the combined XI, otherwise, Dale Steyn and Wasim Akram among others were unanimous in their choice of Rohit And Warner as the openers.
It was shocking why everyone was so reluctant to choose Virat Kohli as the opening batsman even after the batting stalwart is the all-time highest run getter of the tournament.
The 35-year-old has 7263 runs from 237 matches at an average of 37.24 including 7 centuries and 59 half-centuries, all for the Royal Challengers Bangalore since the inception of IPL.
Virat Kohli is the epitome of loyalty in this league and can be named alongside MS Dhoni as a one-club man. Another shocker was that Star Sports did not even include Shikhar Dhawan in the shortlist of greatest openers.
The left-hand batter who has represented franchises like Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings, has scored 6617 runs from 217 matches and is the 2nd highest IPL run-getter.
Virat Kohli welcomes baby Boy! Can he now finally win the elusive IPL title?
Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma announced last night that they have welcomed a baby boy whom they have named Akaay. Since they revealed the news, social media has been buzzing with positive reactions, and cricketers as well as cricket outlets have showered their love and support for Kohli since then.
The birth of his second child was the reason why he opted out of the entire 5-match Test series against England but now the question is, can his baby Boy Akaay prove to be a lucky charm and maybe help Virat Kohli win the elusive IPL title with RCB this season?