ESPNcricinfo's team of the 2017 IPL season
The bowling attack was pretty straightforward, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar leading the way, but the batting order has a few surprise entries
ESPNcricinfo staff
22-May-2017
Ben Stokes and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were the only two unanimous picks in a XI without most of the usual suspects • ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Sixteen ESPNcricinfo staffers, having spent their evenings over the last two months immersed in the IPL, picked their teams of the 2017 season. The collated votes produced an XI like no other previous IPL season. No AB de Villiers, no Virat Kohli, no Chris Gayle, no Lasith Malinga, no Rohit Sharma, no Suresh Raina, and no Sunil Narine. Only three players from last year's XI made it to this year's list as well. Here you go …
Openers
1 David Warner - 641 runs, average 58, strike-rate 142
2 Gautam Gambhir - 498 runs, average 41.50, strike rate 128
Rahul Tripathi (nine) and Hashim Amla were the openers with the next highest number of votes. Amla had a terrific season personally - 420 runs, an average of 60, and surprisingly a strike rate of 146. Two of his best performances came in defeats though and his team - Kings XI Punjab - did not make the playoffs. Chris Lynn was the blockbuster, but his shoulder injury limited his opportunities and he was behind Warner and Amla in the pecking order of overseas openers.
Middle order
3 Robin Uthappa - 388 runs, average 30, strike rate 165
4 Steven Smith (capt) - 472 runs, average 39, strike rate 122
5 Rishabh Pant - 366 runs, average 26, strike rate 166
Most of the usual middle-order heavyweights had poor seasons. Uthappa was the favourite in this category and he too got only five votes. Apart from the three that made it, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni were other contenders. Pant blew hot and cold, but when he was hot he was irresistible. Karthik and Smith had the same number of votes but Smith gets the nod because he led his team to the final.
Allrounders
6 Ben Stokes - 316 runs, strike rate 143; 12 wickets, economy 7.18
7 Krunal Pandya - 10 wickets, economy 6.82; 243 runs, strike rate 136
Stokes and Krunal were clear favourites. Stokes was one of two unanimous choices, while Krunal was in all but one selection. Notable mention for Axar Patel, who scored 227 runs at a strike-rate of 140 and took 15 wickets and had an economy of 7.54.
Bowlers
8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar - 26 wickets, economy rate 7
9 Rashid Khan - 17 wickets, economy rate 6.6
10 Jasprit Bumrah - 20 wickets, economy rate 7.4
11 Jaydev Unadkat - 24 wickets, economy rate 7
The bowling attack was really easy to pick. Bhuvneshwar was the second unanimous choice, while Unadkat, Bumrah and Rashid were in almost every team too. The only other specialist bowlers to even get a vote were 17-year old Washington Sundar (two votes), Imran Tahir (one) and Harbhajan Singh (one).