IPL 2023 Team of the Tournament, led by MS Dhoni

Now that the 16^th edition of the IPL is over, following Chennai Super Kings’ record-equaling fifth title, the time is here to sift through the stats and results to come up with the best 12 of the seasons factoring in the Impact Player rule introduced this year.

This team is led by MS Dhoni, for his sheer brilliance in taking a somewhat weakened CSK team to the playoffs, where his unmistakable stamp was printed on the win over defending champions Gujarat Titans in both Qualifier 1 and the final which spanned three days due to rain in Ahmedabad.

 

1 Shubman Gill (17 innings, 890 runs @ 59.33, SR 157.80, HS 129)

The leading run-getter of IPL 2023, Shubman Gill continued the excellent form shown across three formats for India before the tournament began. His 890 runs are the second most for any batsman in a single IPL season and comfortably surpassed his previous best of 483 in 2022, with his ability to hit sixes (33 in all) the most striking feature of his Gill’s batting. Of his three hundreds for GT, one was responsible for knocking out RCB in the last match of the league stage and another for eliminating Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2.

 

2 Faf du Plessis (14 innings, 730 runs @ 56.15, SR 153.68, HS 84)

The second-highest run-scorer behind Gill, former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was a model of consistency. His eight half-centuries held up RCB for the entire tournament – alongside his opening partner Virat Kohli who scored 639 runs – and no batsman hit more than du Plessis’ 36 sixes. His Powerplay strike-rate of 168.54 was also the second best for batsmen to have faced at least 100 deliveries this season, and to do so when almost at the age of 39 was remarkable.

 

3 Cameron Green (16 innings, 452 runs @ 50.22, SR 160.28, HS 100*)

Purchased by MI for a whopping fee at this year’s player auction, Cameron Green showed why he is so highly rated. In his first IPL season, Green batted primarily at No 3 from where he scored two fifties and a dazzling century in the team’s final league match. Of his overall 452 runs, Green scored 419 at one-down at a strike-rate of 162.40 which is the most any batsman at that position managed to score in the entire tournament. Plus, he adds supreme value as a fielder and can bowl handy pace.

 

4 Suryakumar Yadav (16 innings, 605 runs @ 43.21, SR 181.13, HS 103*)

Suryakumar Yadav entered IPL 2023 in poor form, following three consecutive golden ducks in an ODI series versus Australia, and took a few innings to get going for MI. But, as per his reputation, once he did there was no better batsman in the team. Suryakumar’s 605 runs are the second most for MI in a single IPL edition and his strike-rate of 181.13 was the fourth best this year. Scores of 15, 1, 0, 43 and 7 were soon forgotten as SKY surged back with scores of 55, 66, 26, 83 and 103* in five straight innings. In Qualifier 2, his 61 from 38 balls kept GT worried until SKY’s dismissal.

 

5 Shivam Dube (14 innings, 418 runs @ 38, SR 158.33, HS 52)

No middle-order batsman hit more than Shivam Dube’s 35 sixes (second only to du Plessis, overall) and the 22 times he struck opposition spinners into the stands is also a record. How Dhoni helped transform a batsman who for long was the butt of jokes and memes on social media into a six-hitting machine has to be one of the success stories of CSK’s title run. Reliable, consistent and valuable (he was 32* in the final), this was Dube’s breakout IPL year.

 

6 Rinku Singh (14 innings, 474 runs @ 59.25, SR 149.52, HS 67*)

Leading Kolkata Knight Riders’ run chart was their middle-order bulwark Rinku Singh, who this season overtook Andre Russell as the franchise’s finisher. Forget for a moment the volume of runs he made, and instead look at a strike-rate of 149.52 when batting primarily at five and six, and you get the picture of why Rinku was so outstanding in IPL 2023. While his season is defined by those five consecutives sixes off Yash Dayal, Rinku scored several clutch innings for KKR to underline his status as one to watch out for.

 

7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk) (12 innings, 104 runs @26, SR 182.45)

There was far more successful wicketkeeper-batsmen in the middle order for other teams (special mention here to Heinrich Klaasen), but for his role as captain, motivator and glovesman behind the stumps the obvious choice to lead team is Dhoni. That’s not to say he did not have an impact with the bat – note his strike-rate – but to marshal CSK from a time they were hit by bowling injuries to second place on the points table and from there to win all three matches in the playoffs was where Dhoni’s masterful leadership truly stood out.

 

8 Rashid Khan (17 matches, 27 wickets @ 20.44, economy 8.23, BB 4/30)

The joint second-highest wicket-taker of IPL 2023 alongside GT team-mate Mohit Sharma, the globe-trotting Rashid Khan enjoyed his best season with the ball. Yes, this was also his most expensive IPL edition because this year batsmen started to attack Rashid, but still he was his team’s go-to bowler after the Powerplay. Rashid finished as the most successful spinner of IPL 2023, and as he showed against MI when he smacked 79* off 32 balls with 10 sixes, he can do serious damage down the order too.

 

9 Piyush Chawla (16 matches, 22 wickets @ 22.50, economy 8.11, BB 3/22)

Who could have thought that Piyush Chawla, at the age of 34, would end up as MI’s leading wicket-taker? Thrust into the role of senior bowler once Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson were ruled out and Jofra Archer struggled for fitness, Chawla enjoyed his most successful IPL season as he kept on confounding batsmen with his googlies. His success kept MI afloat in the tournament, and to take the second-most wickets among spinners this year was testament to Chawla’s skill and perseverance.

 

10 Mohammed Shami (17 matches, 28 wickets @ 18.63, economy 8.03, BB 4/11)

Mohammed Shami wore the Purple Cap for most wickets in IPL 2023 for several matches, and that he finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker (17) in the Powerplay showed how emphatic he was for GT. A fast bowler with little variation, Shami relied on his pace and accuracy and ability to hit those tricky lengths and picked up 28 wickets at 18.64 apiece. He proved expensive in the playoffs, but for his role in bowling GT into the final four stage Shami walked into this 11.

 

11 Mohit Sharma (14 matches, 27 wickets @ 13.37, economy 8.17, BB 5/10)

The revelation of IPL 2023, former India pacer Mohit Sharma finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament. But what was remarkable was his journey from not having an IPL contract to being a net bowler to suddenly emerging as the best death bowler of the season. No bowler took more wickets in overs 16-20 this season and the way in which Mohit rocked up each match and made a mark for GT was stunning to watch. His 5/10 in Qualifier 2 was a personal high, but there were several other spells in which Mohit pulled matches back for the defending champions.

 

Impact Player: Mohammed Siraj (14 matches, 19 wickets @ 19.73, economy 7.50, BB 4/21)

Mohammed Siraj continued his white-ball resurgence with 19 wickets for RCB, comfortably the best for the franchise and a stand-out achievement given how poor Harshal Patel was and the given lack of potency from the other bowlers. Siraj’s ten wickets in the Powerplay overs were the second-best in the tournament.