#360fans: Kohli, Warner and de Villiers make Sport360.com Readers' IPL Team of the Tournament

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  • An RCB heavy team

    As the ninth edition of the IPL draws to a close, with the Sunrisers Hyderabad claiming their maiden title, it is time to take a look back at the outstanding performers of the tournament. After participation through a system of votes, here is the 2016 IPL Team of the Tournament as chosen by you, the readers.

    Usual selection rules that apply to regular IPL franchises, such as a limit of four foreigners per side, have also been applied to this team of the tournament. As a result, certain outstanding performers, such as Andre Russell and Mitchell McClenaghan, have been omitted from the side even though they had secured the votes to have been included.

    #1 Virat Kohli

    The records read 973 runs from 16 innings at an average of 81.08, with four hundreds and seven fifties. That is quite an astonishing runs haul. Although it ended rather badly, with a bitter defeat in the final to the Sunrisers, that should not obscure all the breathtaking displays of batting from the Indian superstar that got them to that point.

    Kohli’s performance, leading from the front, has been simply exemplary. It is not merely the mountain of runs that are remarkable; the Royal Challengers opener took only 640 deliveries to get them, at a commendable strike rate of 152.03.  Kohli is also the winner of the Orange Cap and has officially been adjudged the tournament’s outstanding player. It could hardly have been anyone else.

    #2 David Warner (Captain)

    Second to Kohli in the race for the Orange Cap, but an actual winner of the tournament. That is the Sunrisers’ skipper David Warner. Although he did not record a century, the Australian has nine fifties in the tournament. They are part of the 848 runs he scored overall, at a strike rate of 151.42. Not only have his runs been significant, they have also come at significant times, reinforcing Warner’s reputation as a clutch player.

    His highest score of the tournament, an unbeaten 93 against the Gujarat Lions, came in the second qualifier that took the Sunrisers to the final. There, Warner backed up his bold decision to bat first against the Royal Challengers with a 38-ball 69 at the top of the order. The IPL could not have been won by a more dynamic and fearless captain.

    #3 AB de Villiers

    Although he is some way behind the two openers purely in terms of runs scored – 687 runs from 16 innings – AB de Villiers more than makes up for it with the speed and the importance of his knocks. There are six fifties and one century among those runs, but the most eye-catching statistic is the haste with which he has got them – a brilliant strike rate of 168.79 puts him well clear of any of the top twenty-five run scorers in the tournament.

    Memorable innings include his highest score of 129 not out, achieved in a hapless massacre of the Gujarat Lions’ bowling and a 47-ball 79 in the first qualifier. The latter score was attained with his batting colleagues falling like ninepins around him, and was largely responsible for the Royal Challengers’ eventual safe passage to the final.

    #4 Yusuf Pathan

    Although somewhat slowed down since his heyday, Pathan’s contribution was still invaluable in helping the Kolkata Knight Riders reach the play-offs. Defeat to the Sunrisers in the eliminator was disappointing; they had defeated the same side in the penultimate game of the tournament’s league phase a few days prior. That game was marked by a man-of-the-match award for Pathan – an unbeaten 52 of substance.

    It was one of three fifties in the tournament for the big man. A total haul of 361 runs came at a pleasingly high average of 72.20 (achieved, in part, thanks to eight not outs of thirteen innings) and a healthy strike rate of 145.56. His inclusion in this side comes mostly on the strength of his batting – Pathan only bowled six overs in the IPL, picking up one wicket.

    #5 Shane Watson

    Don’t let the grim match analysis of 4-0-61-0 in the final obfuscate Shane Watson’s contribution to the Royal Challengers’ run to the final. It was a contribution of a distinctly T20 flavour – productive bowling and hard-hitting batting. For all the talk of the Royal Challengers’ bowling being their weak link, two of the top three wicket takers in the tournament are from that side.

    Although a little expensive (an economy of 8.58), Watson collected 20 wickets in 16 games including best figures of 4/29. On the batting side, his contributions were mostly brief and fleeting – 179 runs at a strike rate of 133.58, with a highest score of 36.

    #6 Lokesh Rahul (WK)

    Wicketkeepers have, by and large, not had a particularly outstanding time of it in the ninth edition of the IPL. Nevertheless, the Royal Challengers’ Lokesh Rahul has distinguished himself with a series of quietly effective performances. Eleventh on the list of top run-scorers of the tournament, interestingly above a string of other glove-men, both Indian and foreign, Rahul has mustered 397 runs across 12 innings with a highest score of 68 not out. With four fifties to his name, Rahul has not dallied about; the runs have come at a hefty strike rate of 146.49.

    On the wicket-keeping side of things, Rahul has been occasionally sloppy. Despite lapses at certain times, Rahul has five catches and four stumpings to his name – his personal best in an IPL season.

    #7 Krunal Pandya

    After Hardik’s emblematic last over against Bangladesh in the ICC World T20, who would have thought the other Pandya would have outperformed his brother? Krunal Pandya has been a modest but useful bowler. His 6 wickets have come from 12 games (although he bowled in only 11 of them), but his economy reads a respectable 7.57.

    It is his batting, however, that has caught the eye. 237 useful runs have come in the nine occasions that he actually got to bat, at a staggering strike rate of 191.12. This was at least partly due to his most outstanding display – his solitary half-century of the tournament. Promoted to number three against the Delhi Daredevils, Pandya’s extraordinary 37-ball 86 came at a strike rate of 232.43 as the all-rounder made mincemeat of the spinners. 64 of those 86 runs came from hits to the fence.

    #8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

    The first of two Sunrisers bowlers in this team, Kumar’s 23 wickets in 17 games were enough to make him the winner of the Purple Cap. Best figures of 4/29 and an average of 21.30 are part of an impressive report card for Bhuvneshwar this term, as is an economy of 7.42. The seamer’s to snuff out the most dangerous of batsmen makes him the ideal T20 bowler – entrusted with the responsibility of bowling in the powerplay and at the death.

    Even as his bowling colleagues have floundered for one reason or another, Bhuvneshwar has remained firm. He has bowled three maiden overs in this tournament and his 156 dots are the highest of any bowler. Dot-balls account for just under 40% of his total deliveries – an impressive stat.

    #9 Yuzvendra Chahal

    Despite playing only 13 matches, it is a testament to Yuzvendra Chahal’s effectiveness that he was briefly the holder of the Purple Cap. He eventually fell just short – 21 wickets; good enough for second place – but, remarkably, he the only one of the IPL’s top bowlers this term who has not yet represented his country internationally.

    Statistically, his wickets came most frequently with respect to his runs conceded – an average of 19.09, the least of all regular bowlers in the tournament. With best bowling figures of 4/25 to his name, one wonders what could have been if Chahal had played in all of the Royal Challengers’ games.

    Yuzvendra Chahal

    Yuzvendra Chahal

    #10 Jasprit Bumrah

    The Mumbai Indians eventually fell short of the play-off spots, but Jasprit Bumrah still emerged as one of the tournament’s best bowlers. In the top ten for most wickets taken in the tournament – 15 in all from his 14 games – Bumrah reprised the big responsibility he had for the national team – bowling his Yorkers at the death.

    They helped him to best figures of 3/13 in the tournament. Again in the top ten for total dot-balls bowled, Bumrah managed 108 deliveries of which batsmen did not score runs. They accounted for 34.61% of all his deliveries, reaffirming his status as one of India’s most promising young fast bowlers.

    #11 Mustafizur Rahman

    In tandem with Bhuvneshwar, Mustafizur Rahman has made the prospect of facing the Sunrisers’ bowling at the death a thoroughly unappetising one. Shackling, rather than knocking over, the batsman is more his game: with a mightily impressive economy rate of 6.90 from his 16 games, Mustafizur’s cutters have been the bane of rival batsmen this term.

    Second on the list of dot-balls bowled with 137, scoreless deliveries account for 37.43% of his total. Best bowling figures of 3/16 and a grand haul of 17 wickets is good enough for fifth place on the list of top wicket-takers of the tournament.

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