Former India player Aakash Chopra has chosen his best XI of the recently concluded IPL 2025. However, Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill and Delhi Capitals’ (DC) KL Rahul failed to be in the team. RCB registered a six-run win against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad. Four players from the finalists, three from RCB and one from PBKS, made it to his team as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “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.”

“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 shared.

ALSO READ: “I did get a couple of hints” – AB de Villiers on Virat Kohli’s Test retirement

He also picked GT’s Jos Buttler before SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen as his wicketkeeper-batter. Chopra picked PBKS’ Shreyas Iyer as the captain and the No. 4 batter in his side.

“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. 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 further added.

“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 again shared.

“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 stated.

Meanwhile, CSK’s Dewald Brevis pipped Shashank Singh and MI’s Naman Dhir to the final specialist batter’s position as well. Aakash Chopra also chose RCB’s Krunal Pandya as the only all-rounder in his team.

“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. “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.”

“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. 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 added.

“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,” Aakash Chopra concluded.

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