IPL All Star Game: Explained: MS Dhoni may captain South-West team that has Kohli and Rohit

Bengaluru, January 29: The IPL has always been a high-on-adrenaline tournament with some top-of-the-shelf T20 matches placing the spectators on the edge of the seat. The entertainment quotient of IPL 2020 is now all set to touch the sky as a one-off all-star match has announced by the IPL Governing Council after its recent meeting.

The concept was the reportedly a brainchild of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel. MyKhel takes a closer look.

1. What's an all-star game?

In IPL, this may be a first but those following NBA will be familiar with the All Star concept, though the basketball game is much more detailed with a separate draft and other process. Cricket too has seen some concept games like World XI vs Asia XI etc where players from different teams are bunched together. The IPL all-star game too is on similar method with players from various will be pooled together to create a chance for spectators to see marquee players teaming up in an exciting mix.

2. The proposed format

As of now, the proposal is to form two groups consisting players from four teams each. Group 1 may contain players from Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians while the other group may feature players from Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals.

3. The team compostion

Now, this team combination will throw up some interesting pairings and battles. If it goes as per the plan, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, all the marquee Indian players, AB de Villiers, Kane Williamson, Rashid Khan etc will team up on one side, a mini Indian team if you would. And the other team too will not be short on fire power and star power as Andre Russell, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, R Ashwin, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant etc will form the nucleus of it. If the match takes place then it will be a rare treat for the viewers.

4. Who will captain the sides?

With MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, two of the most successful IPL captians, and Virat Kohli, the current Indian captain, may feature in one side, it will be interesting to see who will captain the side. But it is likely that Dhoni may captain the South-West side considering his experience and pedigree. The North-East combination too have multiple captains like Steve Smith, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer in their line-up and it is possible that the Australian might take up the mantle of the skipper.