IPL 2025 was a tournament like no other. Apart from being disrupted by a war and having a new winner, it had a whole clutch of players making significant impacts across teams. That makes picking a Tournament XI (or XII with an impact player) doubly difficult. For example, who do you pick as an opener when all, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Mitchell Marsh, Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre make different but compelling cases?
Let us solve just that dilemma through this selection.
The openers
From among the worthy candidates listed above, I have gone for Phil Salt and Sai Sudharsan. It was a wrench leaving Kohli out, especially in a championship-winning season. But Sudharsan as opener was probably the best of the lot, and to complement his stability – and given the batting to follow – I have gone for the more explosive Salt.
The middle-order
These picks should meet with near-universal acclaim: Jos Buttler, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer.
Buttler was easily the best No. 3 in the competition and will be the ideal man to come in regardless of whether there is a set platform or a wicket has fallen early. He will be followed by the best batter in the tournament, Suryakumar Yadav. The run of scores that SKY racked up is still unbelievable. He achieved consistency without sacrificing scoring speed in the most volatile format.
Batting one spot below the No. 4 as he had during the latter half of the IPL is Shreyas Iyer, who will also be the team captain. Shreyas had a pretty incredible season with the bat alone, unveiling his revamped white-ball game in its full glory. His leadership of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) was inspirational and astute, and he marshalled a team with several rookies expertly.
The lower middle-order
Krunal Pandya is a sure-shot entry. He has had an underrated superstar season, coming to the fore with the ball in almost every match, and doing the job with the bat too when he was required. Krunal had his best-ever wicket-taking season as a bowler, taking 17 wickets overall.
While he is slotted into the lower middle-order, he is not someone who can hit out right off the bat. He will be more of a firefighter than a firestarter, so the two men alongside him need to be of the type who can get going fast. Both Jitesh Sharma and Naman Dhir have shown that ability amply this IPL. They are among the best at starting quickly, while also having the ability to finish explosively. Jitesh’s keeping has also been understatedly brilliant, so he will take the gloves ahead of Buttler or Salt (who was great in the outfield anyway).
The bowlers
Three pace bowlers had standout seasons: Josh Hazlewood, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna. They are all automatic entrants in the Team of the Tournament. Hazlewood was Bangalore’s colossus, incisive whenever he came on, and hard to score off to boot.
Prasidh showed impressive control of length, which allied with his natural strengths of pace, bounce, and movement to fetch him the most number of wickets for the season.
As for Bumrah, well, he was Bumrah. A cut above the rest, a genius nonpareil, and a bowler who can seemingly conjure magic on demand. Even when he gave up a 20-run over, he ensured his next three overs went for just 20. A champion if there ever was one.
Two left-arm wrist spinners were in contention: Noor Ahmad and Kuldeep Yadav. Noor won because he had to perform for a team where most others were floundering consistently. He often did not have the cushion of runs to play with and inconsistent bowling support. Yet he shone brightly for CSK. Kuldeep was also excellent, but he had a better team around him.
The XII: Sai Sudharsan, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Naman Dhir, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Josh Hazlewood, Noor Ahmad.
There are four players from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), one from Punjab Kings (PBKS), three from Mumbai Indians (MI), three from Gujarat Titans (GT) and one from Chennai Super Kings (CSK). This XII also satisfies the four overseas player criteria (Salt, Buttler, Halzewood and Noor).
None of the bowlers can really bat, but given their own skills and the batting line-up they have, they won’t really need to. So one of them can sit out of the batting XI. Buttler might well be the one to sit out of the bowling XI, since he won’t have the gloves.
