The Greatest IPL Test XIs of all time for each franchise: Legends, master blasters and a few Aussie invaders

As the Indian Premier League resumes its 18th season, players from all over the world are in India to pocket life-changing sums of money for the T20 tournament.

Given the wide range of players that have played in the IPL starting from 2008, I have come up with a Test XI that would represent each of the inaugural eight teams.

Although Deccan Chargers were representing Hyderabad in 2008, the franchise was terminated by 2012, thus I will be having an all time Sunrisers Hyderabad Test XI representing a Hyderabad franchise.

The two rules I followed while making the playing XIs were – the player must have played Test cricket and there must be two Indian players in the Test XIs.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru

RCB. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. That’s the best way to describe their IPL history. That being said, there is definitely a well balanced XI to go with given the franchise’s history of acquiring the big dogs of international cricket.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI – Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shane Watson, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Virat Kohli (captain), AB De Villiers, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Anil Kumble, Kyle Jamieson, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Siraj. Honorary mention – Misbah Ul Haq

Punjab Kings

They may have kings in their name, but the Punjab-based franchise have never been crowned in their IPL history. Creating a Test XI for PBKS was harder to make given the franchise has historically chased after white ball accomplished players compared to red ball accomplished cricketers.

PBKS XI – Simon Katich, Mayank Agarwal, Kumar Sangakkara, Hashim Amla, Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Adam Gilchrist, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Matt Henry. Honorary mention – Kyle Abbott

No room for David Warner in the Delhi Capitals. (Photo by Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Delhi Capitals

Another one of the four current trophyless IPL teams, the Delhi Capitals will be hoping for that drought to end in the foreseeable future. With one of the greatest seamers of all time representing the Delhi franchise in the inaugural edition of the IPL, formulating the Delhi bowling attack was the easiest attack to make amongst the eight teams.

DC XI – Virender Sehwag, KL Rahul, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Ross Taylor, Angelo Mathews, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Glenn McGrath, Anrich Nortje. Honorary mention – Daniel Vettori

Rajasthan Royals

The inaugural winners of the IPL, Rajasthan have not been able to reach royal status ever since. With a few Test legends comprising in the XI, Rajasthan would have rued falling short despite boasting a well balanced squad in 2013 and 2022.

RR XI – Graeme Smith (captain), Justin Langer, Rahul Dravid, Younis Khan, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Naman Ojha, Shane Warne, Keshav Maharaj, Jofra Archer, Trent Boult. Honorary mention – Darren Lehmann

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Replacing Deccan Chargers in 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad won their lone IPL title in 2016, while falling short in 2018 and 2024. While the lineup does not scream completely world class, this is a Test lineup that can definitely be competitive when things click on their day.

SRH XI – David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson (captain), Aiden Markram, Travis Head, Washington Sundar, Parthiv Patel (wicketkeeper), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma. Honorary mention – Jason Holder

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates a wicket for the Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Kolkata Knight Riders

Currently the defending champions of the IPL, the Knight Riders will be hoping to add a fourth IPL title in 2026 having failed to make the playoffs in 2025. Curating a Test XI was easy given the high quality recruitment in KKR, especially with players who have high pedigree in red ball cricket.

KKR XI – Gautam Gambhir, Chris Gayle, Jacques Kallis, Brad Hodge, Sourav Ganguly, Shakib Al Hasan, Brendon McCullum (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Morne Morkel. Honorary mention – Murali Karthik

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Chennai Super Kings

Unlike Punjab, Chennai have done justice to the king’s name included in their franchise. The second greatest franchise in IPL history, CSK has had a history of both Indian and overseas Test greats delivering well for their franchise.

CSK XI – Murali Vijay, Matthew Hayden, Devon Conway, Faf Du Plessis (captain), Michael Hussey, Andrew Flintoff, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ben Hilfenhaus, Josh Hazlewood. Honorary mention – Rachin Ravindra

Mumbai Indians

Arguably the greatest T20 franchise of all time with five IPL titles and two Champions League T20 titles, Mumbai Indians are tracking well for a sixth IPL title this year. With a past legend in Sachin Tendulkar to a modern day great in Jasprit Bumrah, MI’s all time Test XI is one surely not to miss

MI XI – Sanath Jayasuriya, Rohit Sharma, Ricky Ponting (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Andrew Symonds, Quinton De Kock (wk), Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, James Pattinson, Jasprit Bumrah. Honorary mention – Praghyan Ojha

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