Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has stirred up fresh controversy with his latest IPL 2025 rankings, leaving fans fuming after snubbing two of the tournament’s top run-scorers.
Known for his outspoken views, Manjrekar sparked a social media storm by posting a list of the "only batters that matter" — and leaving out both Sai Sudharsan and Virat Kohli.
This time, his post on X (formerly Twitter) about the best batters of IPL 2025 sparked outrage among cricket fans, as Manjrekar left out the tournament’s top two run-scorers from his list.
“When it comes to batting only list that matters,” Manjrekar posted on his X account. “Big runs with great SR so far.” He then shared a list of standout performers, featuring names like Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer, and Jos Buttler.
However, it was the omissions that caused the biggest stir. Sai Sudharsan and Virat Kohli, currently the top two players on the Orange Cap leaderboard, were notably missing from Manjrekar’s 10-player list.
Manjrekar emphasised a preference for high strike rates alongside run-scoring, listing players’ statistics, including their strike rates, as part of his criteria.
Sudharsan, who leads the Orange Cap race with 417 runs at a strike rate of 152, narrowly missed out on the list. His absence was particularly surprising given that he has been widely regarded as having a better season than his opening partner, Shubman Gill — who just made it onto Manjrekar’s list.
More eyebrows were raised over some inclusions, notably Travis Head. While Head boasts an impressive strike rate, his average this season sits at a modest 29. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, who has a comparatively lower strike rate of 144, has been remarkably consistent with an average of 65 — making his exclusion even harder for fans to digest.
While high strike rates are often championed as critical in the T20 format, many fans countered Manjrekar’s viewpoint by pointing to the 'impact' model. This approach weighs the volume of runs, the number of balls faced, and the match situation, with impact ratings suggesting that both Sudharsan and Kohli rank among the top performers in IPL 2025.
Despite the debate, Kohli and Sudharsan continue to deliver consistently for their franchises, each racking up five half-centuries so far this season. Meanwhile, some of Manjrekar’s selections — including Pooran, Iyer, and Mitchell Marsh — have cooled off after blistering starts to the tournament.
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