Renowned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has announced his best ODI Eleven of the year for 2018, including Bangladesh Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan, in the squad.
The world famed all-rounder, Shakib, played 15 ODI matches to score 497 runs at an average of 38.23 and grabbed 21 wickets at an average of 26.80.
But, the first name came in Harsha Bhogle’s mind was Indian ODI opener cricketer Rohit Sharma, who scored his best 1030 runs this year at an average of 73.57. He scored five hundreds in the year and remained not out in five innings out of 19. Rohit is also the second highest run-scorer of this year.
Harsha had a bit of confusion picking Rohit’s opening partner. From Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan, Bhogle went with the latter because Rohit and Shikhar are batting partners.
Without any second thought, he further picked Virat Kohli for number three position followed by Joe Root for number 4. Kohli is the highest scorer this year with 1,202 runs and at an average of 133.55. Root also has numbers to back his inclusion. He scored 946 runs this year.
Another Englishman-cum-wicketkeeper Jos Buttler made it into the XI in addition to Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in addition to Sri Lankan Thisara Perera.
The number seven position had a little battle between West Indies’ Jason Holder and Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera. Later, Perera was finally included.
Harsha found it easy to pick spinners for his team. Rashid Khan and Kuldeep Yadav have had a great year with the ball and there was no competition.
Among Mustafizur Rahman, Lungi Nigidi, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kagiso Rabada, Bhogle picked up last two to come good with the ball.
Horsha Bhogle Eleven are: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (Captain), Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Shakib Al Hasan, Thisara Perera, Rashid Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah.
