No space for IPL Orange Cap leaders Virat Kohli, Sai Sudarshan in 'only list that matters' by Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar posted on social media about his best batters of IPL 2025, but had some notable exclusions.
Not one ever too far away from controversial takes, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar once again found himself in the eye of a social media storm. On this occasion, a post on X regarding who he sees as the best batters in IPL 2025 so far spurred the ire of cricket fans, as Manjrekar refused to include the current top two players on the Orange Cap list.
“When it comes to batting only list that matters,” posted Manjrekar on his X account. “Big runs with great SR so far.” Manjrekar went on to list some of the star performers of IPL 2025 so far, headlined by names such as Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer, and Jos Buttler.
However, it was the non-inclusions that told the story, as Sai Sudharsan and Virat Kohli missed the cut for Manjrekar’s 10-player list. Manjrekar’s list of names placed a focus on high strike-rates as well as runs, with the former Indian batter listing down the player stats including SR.
Defending Orange Cap holder Virat Kohli back amongst runs
Sudharsan leads the orange cap list with 417 runs, but with a 152 strike rate, just missed out on Manjrekar’s list. However, it was a particular shock to see him miss the list, given that he has been widely considered to have had a better season than his opening partner Shubman Gill, who just makes the list.
Moreover, there were questions over the inclusion of players such as Travis Head, who does have a good strike-rate but averages a measly 29 this season. The list misses on Virat Kohli, who admittedly has a lower strike-rate at 144, but averages a whopping 65 by comparison.
While strike-rate and the ability to bat at a quick clip has often been championed as the bigger factor for batters in the shortest format of the game, several fans also responded to Manjrekar by noting that the impact model provides a good indication. By weighing amount of runs against number of balls faced as well as the game situation those runs were scored in, impact suggests that Sudharsan and Kohli both rank highly amongst their peers in IPL 2025.
While Kohli and Sudharsan continue to do the business at the top of the order with five half-centuries respectively for their franchises, it has been a quiet couple of matches for the likes of Pooran, Iyer, and Marsh, who had started the tournament on fire.
