File image of Virender Sehwag© Twitter
Only one match remains in the Indian Premier Leagues (IPL) 2023. Over the last two months, the 10 franchises competed intensely with some doing it better than the other. The tournament also saw several great batting performances. This was the first time that two uncapped batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prabhsimran Singh – scored centuries in one edition of the league. Also, India stars Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill his two ceneturies each. After such a great show, ahead of Gujarat Titans’ Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians, Virender Sehwag picked the ‘top-five batters’ according to him.
“Mere 5 Pandavas. Cricket’s Pandav. My pick for five batters in the IPL. I have not picked many openers because they get a lot of opportunities. The first batter who comes to my mind in Rinku Singh. I don’t think you would ask me the reason. Because it has never happened that a batter has won the team a match by hitting five straight sixes. Only Rinku Singh has done it. The second middle-order batter is Shivam Dube. He has hit 33 sixes, his strike-rate is over 160. Last few seasons have not been special but this year he came with a clear-cut mindset that he has to come and hit sixes,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
“The third is a brilliant opener. I have to take his name because his brilliant batting has forced me to pick him up. Yashasvi Jaiswal. Then comes SKY. I am taking Suryakumar Yadav‘s name because he was not in form. In international cricket he was getting zeroes. In IPL also he was not doing well at the start, but then he started doing well. Last, I can pick anybody by doing a toss because there are so many. But I will pick another middle-order batter and his name is Heinrich Klaasen. The team he was playing for (SRH), he was batting for them in the middle order, he made the most number runs. His ability to hit against spin and pace is rarely seen in a foreign player.”
Interestingly, Sehwag’s list has two uncapped players too.
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