Aakash Chopra does a man-to-man comparison between the best IPL and PSL XIs; says it will be a tight contest

Aakash Chopra has set up a hypothetical contest between the best XIs from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and tried to pick a winner in the clash.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, the former Indian batter first picked the teams from both the leagues he would use for the comparison.

IPL XI: Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Rahul Tripathi, Hardik Pandya, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Andre Russell, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

PSL XI: Fakhar Zaman, Jason Roy, Muhammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw, Tim David, Shadab Khan, Rashid Khan, Naseem Shah, Zaman Shah, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi.

Chopra opined that the opening combinations in both leagues are almost on par. He explained:

"If we have Jos Buttler, you can keep Jason Roy in front of him. Jason Roy - 303 runs at a strike rate of 170 and an average of 50. Jos Buttler - more than 800 runs, we have more matches, but his strike rate is also 150. I think even out, difficult to choose between the two. Fakhar Zaman and KL Rahul also cancel each other out."

The cricketer-turned-commentator had the following to say about the comparison between the No. 3 and No. 4 batters of the two leagues:

"Muhammad Rizwan has more than 500 runs but his strike rate is not good. Here I feel Rahul Tripathi is winning the contest. Rilee Rossouw and in front of him Hardik Pandya. Hardik's strike rate is slightly less but nearly 500 runs and apart from that wickets and captaincy. Rossouw plays well but doesn't get an IPL contract."

Aakash Chopra gave a split decision in the comparison between the No. 5 and No. 6 batters of the two leagues. He elaborated:

"After that, Tim David - 278 runs at a strike rate of 194 and we have Liam Livingstone. I don't think it's going to be a comparison, here Liam will win. Shadab Khan - a good all-rounder, 268 runs at a strike rate of 162 and 19 wickets, I think he scores over David Miller."

Tim David featured in both the IPL and the PSL this year. While he played 11 games in the PSL, he featured in very few matches for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2022, but showed his potential in his last few knocks for the franchise.

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"This is an unfair comparison" - Aakash Chopra on the comparison between Andre Russell and Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan also played in both the IPL and the PSL [P/C: iplt20.com]

Chopra pointed out that Andre Russell and Rashid Khan cannot be compared. He observed:

"There is Andre Russell on one side and we have reached Rashid Khan on the other. This is an unfair comparison. Rashid Khan is gun but it is a chalk and cheese comparison at No. 7 or between apples and oranges."

The 44-year-old reckons the PSL XI has an edge over the IPL XI in the bowling department. Chopra said:

"Naseem Shah, Zaman Shah, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi - I think here they might score over us a little. They have slightly more might in the bowling. Interestingly enough we have kept less spin options in the IPL, they have two spin options and we have only one."

Chopra concluded by predicting the hypothetical game to be a tight contest. He added that a five-match series between the two sides is likely to be decided in the final game.

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