Kevin Pietersen includes England and India stars in his Indian Premier League team of the year

Kevin Pietersen includes England and India stars in his Indian Premier League team of the year
Kevin Pietersen has named his IPL team of the year (Pictures: Getty) Kevin Pietersen has included two England stars and four India players in his Indian Premier League team of the year. Gujarat Titans, one of two new franchises along with Lucknow Super Giants, were crowned the 2022 IPL champions on Sunday after beating Rajasthan Royals in a one-sided final. Hardik Pandya’s side finished top of the IPL table, winning ten of their 14 group games, and continued to dominate in the knockout stages, beating Rajasthan by seven wickets in the final.
India all-rounder Pandya was brilliant in Sunday’s showpiece event, taking 3-17 from four overs to help restrict Rajasthan Royals to 130-9. The 28-year-old dismissed England star Jos Buttler, who amassed the second-most runs ever scored in an IPL season, and knocked over India team-mate Sanju Samson and West Indies’ batter Shimron Hetmyer. Pandya then scored 34 from 30 to help the Titans recover from 23-2 and reach Rajasthan’s total with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare.
His heroics were enough to warrant him a place in England legend and Betway ambassador Pietersen’s IPL team of the year along with the likes of Buttler, Ravi Ashwin and Josh Hazlewood. Kevin Pietersen's IPL team of the year Jos Buttler (863 runs) A truly historic campaign. The second-most runs ever scored in an IPL season, the joint-highest number of centuries, and some spectacular hitting.
The best player on the planet. Quinton de Kock (508 runs) Hit 140* as he and KL Rahul batted the entire 20 overs unbeaten against KKR. That innings, combined with some other solid contributions, means he warrants a place in this team.
KL Rahul (616 runs) Another brilliant season, only overshadowed by the genius of Buttler. Continues to be one of the most consistent batters across all formats. Hardik Pandya (487 runs, 8 wickets) A captain’s effort.
Led from the front throughout, scoring tough runs and taking huge wickets. Most importantly, brilliantly skippered Gujarat Titans to the title in their debut campaign. Liam Livingstone (537 runs, 6 wickets) Hit 34 sixes in 14 innings, second only to Buttler’s tally of 45.
Hits the ball incredibly hard and scores incredibly quickly. Some player. David Miller (481 runs) Miller went to a new level in this competition.
He scored double figures in his last 13 innings, which is stunning consistency for a death hitter. That run included a brilliant 94 against CSK and then one of the innings of the IPL, 68* to get Gujarat into the final against the Royals. Ravi Ashwin (191 runs, 157 wickets) Averaging over 27 with the bat and taking 12 wickets is a great effort.
That all-round output means that this was a fine campaign. Rahul Tewatia (217 runs) Hit two sixes from the final two balls of the innings to earn Gujarat Titans a crucial victory over Punjab Kings early in the competition. Plenty more impressive batting since then means that he is one of the bets death hitters around.
Umran Malik (22 wickets) His impressive pace bowling peaked when he bowled the quickest ball of the competition against Delhi Capitals, registering at 157kph. India should be getting him into their team in all formats straight away. Yuzvendra Chahal (27 wickets) The Purple Cap winner has made RCB’s decision to let go of him look pretty silly.
A hugely impressive campaign. Josh Hazlewood (20 wickets) Hazelwood was responsible for dragging RCB into the latter stages, taking seven wickets in his last three matches of the competition. Yet another player in this team who proves it’s possible to excel in all formats.
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