IPL 2018: Coaches/Mentors XI

The Indian Premier League sends every cricket fan in the nation into a frenzy. The 45-day extravaganza, this year, will start with the encounter between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on 7th April.

With IPL not far from its commencement, we add another dimension to our series of 'Best XI' articles. Here, we have drawn out a list of eleven ex-cricketers who are a part of the coaching staffs of the IPL franchises this year.

Note: The 'four foreigners only' formula hasn't been followed for this article and both coaches and mentors have been taken into consideration for selection.

Openers

Virender Sehwag

The now Kings XI Punjab head-coach, Virender Sehwag would be an automatic choice for one of the openers' slots. The former swashbuckling opener, in a seven-season long IPL career, featured for Delhi Daredevils and KXIP.

In the 104 matches that Sehwag played in the cash-rich league, he scored 2728 runs at a strike rate of 155.44. In addition to that, he sashed two centuries and 16 half-centuries as well.

Sachin Tendulkar(C)

Partnering Sehwag up the order would be his former opening partner and probably the greatest batsman to have played the game, Sachin Tendulkar. The Master Blaster featured in five IPL seasons, all of them in Mumbai Indians' blues.

The now-MI icon was a part of as many as 78 matches in the tournament, where he amassed 2334 runs at 34.83 and a strike rate of 119.81. Tendulkar won the Orange Cap in the 2010 edition of the tournament in which he scored 618 runs in 15 appearances.