Harbhajan Singh picks his IPL 2022 best XI, includes Rahul Tripathi and Umran Malik

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has named his best XI for the recently concluded IPL 2022 season. The 41-year-old’s dream team features six Indians and five overseas cricketers. Harbhajan has picked Hardik Pandya as the captain of the team.

In a video on Sportskeeda, the former cricketer named his dream team for the IPL season that ended last week, picking Jos Buttler and KL Rahul as openers. The duo were the top two run getters in the edition.

While Buttler won the Orange Cap by hammering 863 runs in 17 matches for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) while Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Rahul ended the season with 616 runs in 15 games.

Harbhajan picked Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Rahul Tripathi as his No. 3 batter. He smashed 413 runs in 14 games. Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) six-hitting machine Liam Livingstone will come in at No. 4. The explosive right-hander whacked 437 runs at a strike rate of 182.08.

The former off-spinner named title-winning Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Hardik as skipper of his IPL 2022 best XI, describing him as a leader. Dinesh Karthik will be the keeper-batter in the team followed by all-rounder Andre Russell.

Karthik clobbered 330 runs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at a strike rate of 183.33. As for Russell, he contributed 335 runs in 14 games for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) apart from claiming 17 wickets.

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Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan in Harbhajan Singh’s IPL 2022 best XI

Speaking of bowlers, the 'Turbanator' has picked Umran Malik (22 wickets in 14 matches) and Josh Hazlewood (20 wickets in 12 matches) as his two pacers. Harbhajan termed SRH’s Malik as someone who could go on to play for India for many years and described RCB pacer Hazlewood as a wicket-taking bowler.

The two leg-spinners, Rashid Khan (19 wickets in 16 matches) and Yuzvendra Chahal (27 wickets in 17 matches), feature in Harbhajan’s dream team for IPL 2022. Explaining his choice of picking two leg-spinners, he said:

“Rashid can bat as well while his leg-spin is magical. You might ask why (there are) two leg-spinners in the team. Well, both are best, that’s why.”

He added:

“Hazlewood and Umran would open the bowling in my team. Russell and Hardik both can came in as the third seamer. After that, there are two proper spinners, who would definitely give you eight overs on any pitch.”

Concluding his thoughts on his dream team of the season, he said:

“My team is slightly different from the others. There are not too many big names as I have kept only IPL 2022 performances in mind while choosing the XI.”

Harbhajan also named GT seamer Mohammed Shami (20 wickets in 16 matches) as the 12th man in the team.

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Harbhajan Singh’s IPL 2022 best XI: Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Rahul Tripathi, Liam Livingstone, Hardik Pandya (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rashid Khan, Umran Malik, Josh Hazlewood, Mohammed Shami (12th man)

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