No Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir As Shane Warne Names IPL XI Featuring Only Indians

The cricket world must be missing the Indian Premier League right now. In normal circumstances, the thirteenth edition should have been going on at the moment. IPL 2020 was scheduled to start on March 29 in Mumbai. But around a couple of weeks before the IPL could start, the BCCI suspended the league till April 15 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The IPL is unlikely to start any time soon. Reports suggest that the BCCI is looking at a slot in the second half of the year to host the tournament. And while no action is going around at the moment, former Australia cricketer Shane Warne picked his IPL XI, featuring only Indians.

The former Rajasthan Royals coach picked the star studded side during a live video session on Instagram. In recent times, cricketers from all over the world are keeping themselves busy by engaging with fans on social media. The legendary leg-spinner snubbed a number of big names like Suresh Raina, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir as he named his squad.

Shane Warne, who led Rajasthan Royals to the historic first-ever title in 2008, picked Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag as the openers of the side. Virat Kohli takes up his favourite number three position while Yuvraj Singh comes at number four.

The spin legend picked his former Royals teammate Yusuf Pathan at number five. Explaining the reason behind picking Pathan, Warne said: “Yusuf scored one of the best hundreds against Mumbai Indians and he also played a great knock in the IPL final in 2008.”

He then picked MS Dhoni as the finisher of the side while Ravindra Jadeja was picked as the allrounder. In the spin department, Shane Warne went for Harbhajan Singh. He then surprisingly included Siddharth Trivedi and Munaf Patel alongside Zaheer Khan in the pace department. Both Trivedi and Munaf played with Warne at Rajasthan Royals during their title-winning campaign in 2008.

Here is Shane Warne’s all-India IPL XI:

Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan