Venkatesh Iyer Ignores Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma; Picks All-Time T20 XI Ahead of IPL 2026 Auction Featuring Jasprit Bumrah

IPL 2026 Auction: With the Indian Premier League creating all the buzz, thanks to the Retention and the upcoming mini-auction - ex-Kolkata Knight Riders star Venkatesh Iyer picked his all-time T20 XI while interacting with Crictracker. It had a number of surprises. Iyer ignored Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma - who are arguably the best white-ball players of the generation. His T20 XI featured six Indian cricketers - from past and present. The six Indian players featuring in Iyer's XI are Virender Sehwag, Abhishek Sharma, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni and Jasprit Bumrah. As per Iyer, he picked Dhoni to lead the side. 

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Iyer Ignores RoKo

Iyer's all-time T20 XI openers are Virender Sehwag and Abhishek Sharma. AB De Villiers will play at No. 3 and he would be followed by Suresh Raina - who is popularly known as Mr. IPL. It is a very good Top-4 picked by Iyer. The two allrounders are Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya. Stokes and Hardik are match-winners and totally deserve being there in the XI. The captain of the side is Dhoni, he will also double up as the wicketkeeper. Iyer has then picked two world-class spinners in Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine. The two pacers in his XI are Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah. One has to admit, the XI picked by Iyer is very good. 

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Venkatesh Iyer's All-Time T20 XI

Virender Sehwag, Abhishek Sharma, AB De Villiers, Suresh Raina, Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni, Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah

12th Man: Matthew Hayden