Former England captain Michael Vaughan and legendary Australian keeper-batter Adam Gilchrist were thrown a challenge regarding IPL.
Imagine an IPL squad that has MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli. Three of Indian cricket's top personalities have been in the league from its beginning, and they are currently among the biggest crowd pullers for their respective clubs, despite being on the same squad.
It can, however, quickly become a nightmare if you are given the explicit condition of playing only one of Dhoni, Rohit, and Kohli, benching one, and releasing one.
Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist were asked to keep one, bench one and sell one amongst the three legendary IPL players in a conversation on Cricket.com podcast.
The former England batter had no hesitation in picking Dhoni as the player. He also picked the two-time World Cup-winning Indian cricket great as the captain of his side.
"I'm playing MS Dhoni. I don't think anyone's been better. No (Virat doesn't find a place). MS is the captain. He's playing," Vaughan said on Cricket.com podcast.
MS Dhoni has captained Chennai Super Kings to 5 IPL titles and was the first to win back-to-back IPL titles in 2010 and 2011. With 264 appearances, he is the most-capped player in the IPL and holds the record for inflicting most dismissals as a keeper (190).
Dhoni is also the sixth highest run-getter in IPL history with 5243 runs at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 137, despite batting outside the top five batting positions.
When Vaughan was asked to sell one between Rohit and Kohli, the former England captain took the Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter' name.
"What was the other thing? selling? I'm getting rid of Virat. I'm getting rid of him because he's never won the IPL. Rohit is a six-time winner. MS how many? Five! So I'm playing MS, I'm selling Virat. What was the other one? Yeah, so Rohit is my MS substitute," he said.
Kohli remains only player to play all IPL seasons since 2008 for the same franchise and is the leading run-getter and century maker in IPL history. He has 8004 runs in 251 matches to his name with 8 tons to his name.
Vaughan said selling Kohli to another franchise would be "good business" as it can fetch him a good transfer fee.
"I can get a good load of cash for him. He'll go somewhere else for a huge amount of money. That's good business," he added.
Vaughan revealed that Mumbai Indians veteran and current Indian captain Rohit Sharma will be put on the bench as a replacement for Dhoni.
Gilchrist echoed Vaughan's views but not before adding that it was tough on all the legends of the game.
He said: "That's well thought through (by Vaughan). You're splitting hair, it's tough on all, but that's the job of a manager, isn't it?"
Here is the video:
