Manoj Narayan picks out Wisden’s IPL team of the decade, featuring the big hitters and best bowlers from the past 10 years of the Indian Premier League.
Wisden’s decade in review series is brought to you in association with Perry, designers of distinctive club blazers made in Yorkshire since 1946. Vote in the decade in review readers’ survey.
Ten years is a long time in cricket, but you won’t know that looking at our IPL team of the decade. All the players in our XI have, in their own way, been a huge influence on the tournament, and indeed T20 cricket at large. And they’re all still a part of the mega event, even if, in some cases, their influence has diminished.
This is a side that comprises all manner of record-breakers. From the owner of the highest individual score in the IPL, the most runs in a season, the most impactful wicketkeeper, the most successful captain, and the highest wicket-taker, this team covers the whole gamut.
Of course, as is common with an exercise such as this, a few very convincing names had to be left out – apologies David Warner, Shane Watson, and Andre Russell – but it is what it is. Here’s Wisden’s IPL team of the decade.
Chris Gayle
Bumrah is one of the hottest properties in Indian cricket at the moment, and the national team has the IPL to thank for that. The 26-year-old came through Mumbai’s scouting department in 2013, and was something of a novelty at first, claiming 11 wickets in his first three season with his stiff-limbed, wind-up-toy action. He has since become one of those bowlers who, even without taking wickets, affects every game he plays be being impossible to reliably hit, and thus forcing a change in approach from the opposition batsmen. He started out under Malinga’s tutelage, and now, he has perhaps surpassed the maestro in his execution of the yorkers. There are, of course, wickets in him too – Bumrah has taken 82 wickets in 77 matches, but his effect is far, far beyond what that figure suggests.
12th man: Dwayne Bravo
