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The TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is over, and the players and some coaching staff have also returned to international cricket. In between that, England National Cricket Team pacer Reece Topley picked an all-time T20 XI during an exclusive chat with CricTracker. There have been some surprising names in the XI and some big names missing as well.
Reece Topley has played in the IPL for two franchises, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Mumbai Indians (MI). He joined RCB back in 2023 and played just one game in his debut season. After a season spent with the current champions, he was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the 2025 season, and in the latest season, he did not feature.
Reece Topley picks Chris Gayle and Jos Buttler as opener
Reece Topley, in an exclusive interview with CricTracker, picked his all-time T20 XI, in which Rohit Sharma did not find a place despite winning five IPL Trophies as captain of MI and also the T20 World Cup 2024 with the India National Cricket Team. Apart from him, the GOAT of T20 cricket, Sunil Narine, was also missing, who has several records to his name.
In the all-time T20 XI, he picked former West Indies National Cricket Team captain Chris Gayle and former England National Cricket Team captain Jos Buttler as the two openers of the side. The two batters have been among the most destructive batters of all time, as the Southpaw has scored 14,562 runs with 22 centuries in the shortest format.
Buttler remains the second-leading run-scorer in this format with 14,890 runs. He is nearing 15,000 runs. The English wicket-keeper batter surpassed Gayle's record a few months back and has 9 centuries under his belt. This showcases his amazing quality and destructive batting ability when opening the innings in this format.
Two RCB stars in the middle order for Reece Topley's XI
At No.3 one and only Virat Kohli, whom he played with and against while he was at RCB and was playing for the Three Lions. The former India captain remains the leading run-scorer in the IPL with 9,336 runs, and he has scored over 4,000 runs in the T20Is for the Men in Blue.
India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav was picked at No. 4, and Kohli’s former RCB teammate AB de Villiers was picked at No.5. Then came the leading run-scorer of the T20s, Kieron Pollard, as the former West Indies cricketer is just one run short of 15,000 runs in T20s, and he is the captain of the side.
Jasprit Bumrah gets in the best T20 XI
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi was picked next, and then the two fast bowlers, Lasith Malinga and Brett Lee. Surprisingly, there was no Dwayne Bravo, who remains the best all-rounder in the history of the shorter format.
Another Indian, Jasprit Bumrah, the leading wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup 2026 and the Player of the Tournament in the 2024 edition he remains the greatest bowler of this generation across formats. Reece Topley picked Muthiah Muralidaran as the only frontline spinner for his side.
