Cricketer-turned-expert Aakash Chopra has picked his strong and best-playing XI of the recently concluded 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season. Surprisingly, India's new Test skipper Shubman Gill, is not in the playing XI despite scoring over 650 runs for Gujarat Titans (GT). Apart from Gill, there was no place for Delhi Capitals (DC) KL Rahul in the playing XI. The wicketkeeper batter impressed one and all with solid finishing skills.
The IPL 2025 season came to an end, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) winning their maiden IPL trophy by beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs on June 04 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Only four players from the finalists - three from RCB and one from PBKS made it to Chopra's playing XI.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, the former India opener picked GT's Sai Sudarshan, - the Orange Cap Holder, as one of his opening batters. The southpaw will have Virat Kohli as his partner, as Chopra thought Kohli will ensure solidity at the top. Jos Buttler will be the designated wicketkeeper-batter in the side.
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"Firstly, I have kept Sai Sudharsan in my team. He is the Orange Cap holder and has played very well. His batting has been clean. At the end of the tournament, he had so many trophies. It seems the guy is a trophy king. He didn't win only the IPL trophy this year, but he did everything else and a bit more," he said (1:50).
"Virat Kohli will be there alongside him in my team. Virat Kohli's performance was also very good the entire year. He scored fifties in most of the games away from home, and the team won whenever he scored a fifty. He played an important role. You also saw gears in his batting this year," he observed.
"At No. 3, I have kept Jos Buttler as my wicketkeeper-batter. He batted extremely well and scored more than 500 runs. I was a little 50-50 between Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen, but I thought Klaasen didn't score as many runs in winning causes, and Jos Buttler was phenomenal," Chopra reasoned.
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Shreyas Iyer to lead Aakash Chopra's best IPL playing XI
Chopra named PBKS Shreyas Iyer as the skipper of his playing XI. The right-hand batter had one of the best IPL seasons with bat in hand and was also very inspirational as the leader of the side. The expert also picked Suryakumar Yadav in the playing XI. The MI batter scored 717 runs, which was his highest for a single season.
"At No. 4, I have got Shreyas Iyer. He has captained extremely well. He combined the five fingers and made a fist. Bengaluru was the only team against whom he didn't score runs, and that proved expensive in the end. He was absolute gold dust. Shreyas Iyer is my captain," he observed.
"At No. 5, I have kept Suryakumar Yadav. I know he has been kept slightly down the order, but what can I do? He is the most valuable player, the way he has batted, he is unreal. He scored more than 25 runs every time, and we got to see different shades of Suryakumar Yadav every time," Chopra stated.
For the last batter position at number six, Chopra has picked CSK's Dewald Brevis. The Proteas batter came as a replacement player mid-season, and made an instant impact, scoring over 200 runs at a strike rate of above 160.
"At No. 6, I have got Dewald Brevis. Again, multiple contenders - Shashank Singh could have been here, or I could have thought about Naman Dhir, but I am going with Dewald. He has played less, but how well he played. He has got something. He has done an exceptional job, and his fielding was also terrific," he elaborated.
Krunal Pandya only all-rounder in Aakash Chopra's IPL best XI
Player of the match in the IPL final, RCB's Krunal Pandya will come at number 7 and is the only all-rounder in the side. Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Noor Ahmad, and Josh Hazlewood are the bowlers Chopra picked.
"Only one Pandya can come, and that's Krunal Pandya. He is a bona fide IPL legend, whether you believe it or not. He is the only player who has two Player of the Match performances in IPL finals. He has three Player of the Match performances in RCB's winning campaign," he said.
"After that, Jasprit Bumrah. Jassi was beautiful, the ball he bowled to hit Washington Sundar's stumps. He had one bad game, and Mumbai were knocked out of the tournament. Apart from that, he didn't concede more than 30 runs in any match. Jasprit Bumrah is that Kohinoor," Chopra elaborated.
"After that, two players who seem to be mirror images of each other. One is Josh Hazlewood, who never loses a final. With Josh, RCB conceded 200 runs only once in the tournament, and without him, they conceded 200 runs in each of the three games," Chopra noted.
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"Then, of course, I am going with Prasidh Krishna. He is the Purple Cap holder. Again, very similar to Josh Hazlewood, hits the deck hard and bowls slightly short of a length. He had to bowl full and with the new ball later, and that is where he lost a little bit of sheen and penetration, but he dismissed Rohit Sharma there too," he added.
Aakash Chopra's Team of the tournament:
Sai Sudharsan, Virat Kohli, Jos Buttler (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Noor Ahmad, Josh Hazlewood, Prasidh Krishna
