He also left out R Ashwin from his all-time IPL XI.
Recently, Chopra picked his all-time IPL XI and chose MS Dhoni as the captain of the team. However, he found no place for the destructive Chris Gayle or a game-changer like Andre Russell in his XI. Instead, he chose Rohit Sharma and David Warner as the openers for his IPL XI.
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“My first pick is David Warner, the first overseas player as an opener. You will also think of Chris Gayle, but he is not more consistent than David Warner. He [Gayle] has been explosive but Warner is not behind anyone. So, Warner as one of the overseas players. He has been one of the most consistent batsmen ever,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“There is no debate that Rohit Sharma would be opening alongside Warner. He started as a middle-order batsman for Deccan Chargers, then he went to Mumbai Indians where he is still there. He is the most successful captain as well but doesn’t open always when he is the skipper. But if I make an all-time IPL XI, I will make him open 100 percent,” he added.
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“Although it would always be 50-50 between Rohit and Dhoni on whom you should make the captain when you look at the team Dhoni has got especially in the last few seasons, you will have to opt for Dhoni ahead of Rohit and he also has the experience of 11 years of captaincy and Rohit was not the captain initially. He was groomed as a captain by the Mumbai Indians,” Chopra said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lasith Malinga were shortlisted as his three fast bowlers. For the spinners’ slots, he picked Harbhajan Singh and Sunil Narine ahead of R Ashwin.
Aakash Chopra’s all-time IPL XI:
David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Sunil Narine, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah