Aakash Chopra picks his best XI of IPL 2025, no place for Shubman Gill and KL Rahul

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked his best XI of the recently concluded IPL 2025. Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill and Delhi Capitals (DC) wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul are two of the star performers who failed to make the team.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) registered a six-run win against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, June 3. Four players from the finalists, three from RCB and one from PBKS, made it to Chopra's team of the tournament.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India batter picked GT's Sai Sudharsan, the Orange Cap winner, as one of the openers in his best XI of IPL 2025.

"Firstly, I have kept Sai Sudharsan in my team. He is the Orange Cap holder and has played very well. His batting has been clean. At the end of the tournament, he had so many trophies. It seems the guy is a trophy king. He didn't win only the IPL trophy this year, but he did everything else and a bit more," he said (1:50).

Chopra chose RCB's Virat Kohli as Sudharsan's opening partner.

"Virat Kohli will be there alongside him in my team. Virat Kohli's performance was also very good the entire year. He scored fifties in most of the games away from home, and the team won whenever he scored a fifty. He played an important role. You also saw gears in his batting this year," he observed.

The cricketer-turned-commentator picked GT's Jos Buttler ahead of the SunRisers Hyderabad's (SRH) Heinrich Klaasen as his wicketkeeper-batter.

"At No. 3, I have kept Jos Buttler as my wicketkeeper-batter. He batted extremely well and scored more than 500 runs. I was a little 50-50 between Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen, but I thought Klaasen didn't score as many runs in winning causes, and Jos Buttler was phenomenal," Chopra reasoned.

Chopra chose PBKS' Shreyas Iyer as the captain and the No. 4 batter in the hypothetical side.

"At No. 4, I have got Shreyas Iyer. He has captained extremely well. He combined the five fingers and made a fist. Bengaluru was the only team against whom he didn't score runs, and that proved expensive in the end. He was absolute gold dust. Shreyas Iyer is my captain," he observed.

The analyst picked the Mumbai Indians' (MI) Suryakumar Yadav to bat slightly out of position at No. 5.

"At No. 5, I have kept Suryakumar Yadav. I know he has been kept slightly down the order, but what can I do? The most valuable player, the way he has batted, he is unreal. He scored more than 25 runs every time, and we got to see different shades of Suryakumar Yadav every time," Chopra stated.

The Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) Dewald Brevis pipped the likes of PBKS' Shashank Singh and MI's Naman Dhir to the final specialist batter's position in Chopra's best XI of IPL 2025.

"At No. 6, I have got Dewald Brevis. Again, multiple contenders - Shashank Singh could have been here, or I could have thought about Naman Dhir, but I am going with Dewald. He has played less, but how well he played. He has got something. He has done an exceptional job, and his fielding was also terrific," he elaborated.

Brevis was one of CSK's star performers in IPL 2025. The South African youngster smashed 225 runs at a strike rate of 180.00 in six innings this season.

---

"He has 3 Player of the Match performances in RCB's winning campaign" - Aakash Chopra on picking Krunal Pandya in his best XI of IPL 2025

Krunal Pandya registered figures of 2/17 in four overs in the IPL 2025 final. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose RCB's Krunal Pandya as the only all-rounder in his best XI of IPL 2025.

"Only one Pandya can come, and that's Krunal Pandya. He is a bona fide IPL legend, whether you believe it or not. He is the only player who has two Player of the Match performances in IPL finals. He has three Player of the Match performances in RCB's winning campaign," he said.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player picked MI's Jasprit Bumrah as the first specialist bowler in his team of the tournament.

"After that, Jasprit Bumrah. Jassi was beautiful, the ball he bowled to hit Washington Sundar's stumps. He had one bad game, and Mumbai were knocked out of the tournament. Apart from that, he didn't concede more than 30 runs in any match. Jasprit Bumrah is that Kohinoor," Chopra elaborated.

Chopra chose CSK's Noor Ahmad as the only specialist spinner in his bowling attack.

"After that, there are three more bowlers, one of whom is Noor Ahmad. He played for Chennai, and the Purple Cap was on his head for a long time. The team finished at the bottom of the table, but Noor Ahmad was very good," he observed.

The 47-year-old completed his team of IPL 2025 by picking RCB's Josh Hazlewood and GT's Prasidh Krishna, the Purple Cap winner, as the other two specialist seamers.

"After that, two players who seem to be mirror images of each other. One is Josh Hazlewood, who never loses a final. With Josh, RCB conceded 200 runs only once in the tournament, and without him, they conceded 200 runs in each of the three games," Chopra noted.

"Then, of course, I am going with Prasidh Krishna. He is the Purple Cap holder. Again, very similar to Josh Hazlewood, hits the deck hard and bowls slightly short of length. He had to bowl full and with the new ball later, and that is where he lost a little bit of sheen and penetration, but he dismissed Rohit Sharma there too," he added.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra chose the Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) Mitchell Marsh, the MI duo of Hardik Pandya and Naman Dhir, and PBKS' Harpreet Brar as his four impact player options.

Aakash Chopra's best XI of IPL 2025: Sai Sudharsan, Virat Kohli, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Noor Ahmad, Josh Hazlewood, Prasidh Krishna