Even for most of the cricketing pundits, selecting an ‘All-Star XI’ out of a given 200 players of a tournament is one of the toughest, controversial and also a fun task to do. And the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) mentor Shane Warne made his ‘All-Star IPL team’ from the 2018 season, ahead of the final match of the 11th seasons of the cash-rich T20 extravaganza between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Mumbai.
Not only Warne expressed his Dream XI, he also predicted the winner of the summit clash as well. Chennai Super Kings, returning after two years of layoff because of the involvement of their owners in the fixing scandal, played with an unstoppable spirit to bag 18 points from 14 matches and finish second in the points table. Chasing 138 in the first Qualifier at the Wankhede Stadium against SRH, Chennai became the first finalist of IPL 2018.
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Sunrisers, the 2016 champions, finished at the top of the table with 18 points as well, with most of their victories scripted by their daunting set of bowlers who scalped 79 wickets in the league this season. They lost in Qualifier 1 but shrugged off their poor losing streak with a stunning all-around performance by Rashid Khan in the second Qualifier.
Warne tweeted, “Good luck to both teams in the IPL final tonight…I think CSK will win !” With that, he attached his All-Star playing XI – Butler, Rahul, Virat, Pant, Dhoni, Pandya, Russell, R.Khan, Tye, Kuldeep, Bumra, “Agree ?”
Good luck to both teams in the IPL final tonight, here’s my “All star team” from this years IPL
Butler
Rahul
Virat
Pant
Dhoni
Pandya
Russell
R.Khan
Tye
Kuldeep
Bumra
Agree ? I think CSK will win !— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) May 27, 2018
Here’s how Warne’s followers reacted to the tweet as they felt it was unfair for SRH skipper —
No place for Kane Williamson who is the highest run getter of #IPL2018 😂
— Abhishek Agarwal (@abhishek2526) May 27, 2018
lol no Williamson or de villerers, Australia at least no now he'd be hopeless as a national selector.
— superCalo (@superCalo) May 27, 2018
This year's IPL— Williamson > Kohli.
— Sumukh 🐺 (@Sumukh__) May 27, 2018
Where is ABD,Kane???
Lol I think SRH this time…— Harish Kodali (@harish_kodali) May 27, 2018
Ab de viliers desreve also SRH will win
— Zahid Afghan (@ZahidAf22230297) May 27, 2018
Where is Kane Williamson, why is he always ignored? a guy who's scored close to 700 runs and lead SRH so well gets a royal snub !!! Ridiculous !!! Virat can be easily replaced with Kane
— Sunil Shenoy (@sunil_shenoy) May 27, 2018
In place of Virat there should be Kane Williamson..rest is ok
— Sunny Deol Army (@ActionKingAgain) May 27, 2018
Perfectly selected according to their role and current form but Kane deserves more than Kohli. And also SRH will be the champions again.
— Shiva Cheruku (@ShivaCheruku3) May 27, 2018
Chennai will be having the edge over Sunrisers in the final having defeated them thrice in the tournament. Even in head-to-head stats, CSK have the edge with seven wins in nine matches.
