The best IPL 11 of all time

What is the best IPL 11 of all time?

The best IPL 11 of all time is Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2016); Shubman Gill (Gujarat Titans, 2023); AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore, 2016); Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians, 2025); Shreyas Iyer (Punjab Kings, 2025); Rishabh Pant (Delhi Daredevils, 2018); Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders, 2019); Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings, 2013); Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians, 2011); Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians, 2020); Yuzvendra Chahal (Rajasthan Royals, 2022). It is the strongest eleven in BuildXI under real rules: 4 overseas players, one wicketkeeper and 1048 rating points in total.

The XI

Eleven players, 4 of them overseas, 1048 rating points between them. No player appears twice, whichever season he comes from, and each one is taken in the position he was filed under that year.

Why this is the best IPL 11 and not another

The interesting rule is not the eleven places, it is the 4 overseas ones. They are the scarce thing, and the side is built around where they buy the most: AB de Villiers at 96, Andre Russell at 96, Dwayne Bravo at 95, Lasith Malinga at 97. Every other overseas player in the competition is bidding for a seat that has already gone.

That is how Chris Gayle, rated 98, ends up outside an all-time XI. So does Jos Buttler at 97. Neither is worse than the men who beat them in the abstract: they are worse value for a place that costs something, and an Indian player of nearly the same rating costs nothing.

What the overseas rule actually costs

Less than it looks. Switch the cap off and the best XI takes 7 overseas players and gains 6 rating points in total across eleven places, and out of 1054. The reason is depth: the positions where India is strongest are the same positions where the overseas competition is fiercest, so the cap costs a point here and a point there rather than a whole player.

The shortlist, position by position

The XI above is one answer. These are the players it was chosen from: the best season of every man in the game, ranked, before the overseas rule is applied. An asterisk marks an overseas player, which is the column that decides most arguments.

Where the ratings come from

Each player-season carries one number from 62 to 99. It is our own judgement of what that player was that year, not a statistic and not an official ranking. Virat Kohli in 2016 is the only 99 in the game. How ratings work sets out how one number becomes a batting and a bowling figure, and what playing a man out of position costs him.

• A season is rated, not a career: the same player appears many times, and only his best year can make this XI.
• BuildXI is fan-made and not affiliated with the IPL or the BCCI.

Build your own

The XI above is what the ratings say. The game is the argument with it: you spin eleven real squads, take one player from each, and find out whether the side you would have picked can win all fourteen. Most of the time the answer is no. The IPL draft simulator explains how a draft works.

Questions