The IPL 2020 concluded in grand style with Mumbai Indians (MI) defeating Delhi Capitals (DC) in the finals to lift their fifth IPL title. It was also their second IPL trophy in two years and everything culminated nicely despite the tournament taking place behind closed doors.
BCCI did a laudable job of shifting the tournament to UAE on such short notice and give the cricket starved fans some much-needed entertainment of the highest quality that set new viewership records. Fans got to see some of the best foreign and Indian talents on display playing some high-level cricket.
The Indian contingent makes the teams highly valued and fans throng to watch the big-name Indian cricketers and also discovered some unknown entities in form of domestic talents which did extremely well in the IPL 2020.
Team COC takes a look at the best Indian players who shined in the recently concluded IPL 13 and present to you the COC Indian XI of IPL 2020.
KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are the chosen openers for this COC Indian XI of IPL 2020. Rahul slammed 670 runs in 14 matches with the highest score of the tournament in 132*. It was also the highest ever score in IPL history made by an Indian batsman. He was one of the reasons, KXIP managed to make a comeback even after losing the first 6 of their seven matches.
Rahul also captains this Indian XI of IPL 2020.
His partner Shikhar Dhawan also scored more than 600 runs and ended up as the second-highest run-getter in IPL 13. He became the first batsman to score back-to-back centuries in a single IPL edition and was the reason why Delhi Capitals reached the finals for the first time ever.
Mayank Agarwal, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan make up the middle order of this Indian XI of IPL 2020. Agarwal also scored a century in this IPL and had a total of 424 runs in 11 matches for Kings XI Punjab. He did a good job at the top keeping Rahul company and enabling him to bat through the innings.
Suryakumar and Ishan pillared the Mumbai Indians' middle order with 480 and 516 runs respectively. While Surya was content anchoring one end but scored his runs at a strike rate of 145.01 and till the time he was there at the crease, MI batting at the other end went bonkers. Kishan slammed the most sixes in IPL 2020, a total maximums of 30, and scored his runs at a strike-rate of 145.76.
These two ensured the likes of Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya had the assurance to got berserk knowing if they got out, they will ensure MI gets to the finishing line.
Hardik Pandya was special in the way he bludgeoned the bowlers during the death overs, particularly, hitting the yorkers in the stands as well. He made 281 runs at a strike rate of 178.98, hitting 25 sixes and 14 fours, ensuring MI made a substantial total in the end, even if they had lost early wickets.
Rahul Tewatia of Rajasthan Royals was a revelation of IPL 2020 as an all-rounder. He made 255 runs at a strike-rate of 139.34 with one fifty and another match-winning knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad as well. He also got 10 wickets with his leg-spin proving to be an asset to his team.
He is joined in the spin department by Yuzvendra Chahal, who proved to be immensely valuable for Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore. He got 21 wickets in 15 matches with a best of 3/18 at an economy of 7.08 and got Kohli wickets more often than not.
Mohammad Shami, T Natarajan, and Jasprit Bumrah make up the fast bowling contingent of this Indian XI of IPL 2020.
Shami picked 20 wickets and single-handedly carried the Kings XI Punjab bowling attack. Neither of the other fast bowlers, barring Arshdeep Singh, gave him any help from the other end, but he was determined to do well in T20s and did it in style. His biggest achievement was defending 5 runs in a super over against Mumbai Indians, who opened with Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock.
T Natarajan deserved his Indian team call-up as he rose to the occasion when Sunrisers Hyderabad was looking for a fast bowler to fill in for injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Natarajan did amazingly well picking 16 wickets, and especially bowled well in death overs, and his amazing yorker to clean up AB de Villiers will become part of IPL highlight packages for years to come.
Jasprit Bumrah picked 27 wickets in IPL 2020, the most by an Indian bowler in a single IPL edition in tournament history. Bumrah led the Mumbai Indians attack in absence of Lasith Malinga and led from the front. He troubled the batsmen with the new ball and got them out with the old ball in death overs. A complete package of bowling Bumrah proved to be and even wore the purple cap once.
TEAM COC INDIAN XI OF IPL 2020:
KL Rahul (KXIP-C), Shikhar Dhawan (DC), Mayank Agarwal (KXIP), Suryakumar Yadav (MI), Ishan Kishan (MI- WK), Hardik Pandya (MI), Rahul Tewatia (RR), Mohammad Shami (KXIP), Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB), T Natarajan (SRH), Jasprit Bumrah (MI)
