Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan recently unveiled his Best XII from the 2025 IPL (Indian Premier League). He picked three Royal Challengers Bengaluru players and one Punjab Kings player as winners and runners-up, respectively.
Irfan chose Virat Kohli and Sai Sudharsan as his opening duo. The duo scored 759 and 657 runs in 15 innings, respectively. While Sudharsan won the Orange Cap, Kohli’s impacting knocks were key in several victories for his team. Jos Buttler of the Gujarat Titans took third place. After seven seasons with the Rajasthan Royals, Buttler shone in his debut season with the Shubman Gill-led team, scoring 538 runs in 13 innings.
Iyer named captain of Irfan Pathan IPL 2025 side
Furthermore, Irfan Pathan picked Shreyas Iyer as the skipper of the side. Not only was he instrumental with the bat (holding the highest run tally across the 10 IPL seasons he has featured in so far), but the dynamic middle order batter also led the PBKS to the final in what was a stellar run for them.
Suryakumar Yadav and Heinrich Klaasen formed the core of the middle order. Suryakumar finished as the tournament’s second-leading run-scorer. He also became the first batter to register 25-plus scores in the entirety of the league phase (16 games) in the IPL – the second-best being 10, a first-time T20 record. Klaasen’s 487 runs throughout the tournament came at a strike rate of 172.69.
Naman Dhir was arguably the most lethal batter when it came to performing in the death overs. Throughout IPL 2025, he faced a total of 97 deliveries between overs 16 and 20, striking at a colossal rate of 195.89. Krunal Pandya and Noor Ahmad were chosen as the spinners. Both left-arm spinners—conventional and wrist-spin, respectively—were crucial to their respective sides.
Watch Irfan Pathan’s latest IPL 2025 video here:
Krunal’s match-winning spell, scripts history with unique record
The RCB all rounder, Krunal Pandya, became the first player to secure the Player of the Match (POTM) award in two IPL finals, after his brilliant outing of 2/17 in four overs against PBKS in the summit clash of IPL 2025. Noor Ahmad was the biggest standout performer for Chennai Super Kings in CSK’s otherwise forgettable season. He picked up 24 wickets in 14 innings and finished as the league’s second-highest wicket-taker.
As far as the pace-bowling department is concerned, Josh Hazlewood was picked alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna. Prasidh had a truly remarkable season, finishing as the league’s highest wicket-taker with 25 wickets in 15 innings. Bumrah was ever-consistent as usual, conceding runs at a miserly rate of 6.67. Hazlewood starred with the new ball for RCB, ending up as RCB’s highest wicket-taker.
Irfan Pathan’s best XII of IPL 2025:
Virat Kohli, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Naman Dhir, Krunal Pandya, Noor Ahmad, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, and Prasidh Krishna.
India
