Pat Cummins To Lead, Hazlewood As Impact Sub: Best Overseas XI For IPL 2025

Hazlewood and Cummins in action - (Source : AP)

Another successful season of IPL came to an end on Tuesday, June 3 when Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted their first-ever trophy after beating Punjab Kings by six runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Besides the Indian talent rising to the occasion and owning the stage, several overseas stars shone for their side and made a mark. 

Meanwhile, this article will shed light and look at the best overseas XI of the tournament. Here is the list. 

Openers

Mitchell Marsh And Phil Salt

Despite LSG not having a great season and finishing 7th on the table, they had one positive: Mitchell Marsh's return to form. The Australia T20I captain, who had not made a stamp in the IPL before this season, broke KL Rahul's record for most runs in a season for LSG.

The 33-year-old has scored 627 runs in 13 innings, averaging 48.23. He registered a century and six fifty-plus scores.

RCB's Phil Salt will be his opening partner as the England batter provided aggressive starts and set the platform for his side in almost every match. Salt amassed 403 runs in 13 innings, averaging 33.58.

More than the runs, Salt took on the bowlers early on and played key 30+ quick-fire cameos that helped the following batters score big and put a mammoth total on the board. 

Middle-Order

Jos Buttler, Nicholas Pooran, Heinrich Klaasen, Dewald Brevis, and Tim David

In the middle-order, Jos Buttler's inclusion is a no-brainer. The former England captain, alongside Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill, formed a formidable trio and scored 538 runs in 13 innings, averaging 59.78. 

Buttler missed out on a century, but still had five fifty-plus scores this season. Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran also had a blast in IPL 2025 as the southpaw was in a different league in the first half of the tournament. Despite a dip in the form in the 2nd half, Pooran managed to score 524 runs in 14 innings, averaging 43.67. Also, Pooran had five ffity-plus scores in the first six games.

Heinrich Klaasen also created an impact for his side as the 33-year-old scored 487 runs in 13 innings, averaging 44.27. His consistency couldn't save SRH's below-par season, but the South African star had a great individual campaign where he smashed a century and a fifty-plus score. 

Dewald Brevis has had a great journey in the recently concluded edition as the South African rising star was roped in as replacement for injured Gurjapneet Singh. Nonetheless, the right-hand batter made most of the opportunity and scored 225 runs in six innings, averaging 37.50. 

He turned around CSK's approach in the middle order and successfully took on the bowlers and hit them across the park to post big totals in the board, which was a major lacking for the five-time winners in the first-half of the season. 

Tim David also proved his critics wrong in the recently concluded season as the Australian beast played a finisher's role and did not disappoint the RCB management. When his side crumbled against PBKS at home, David took the onus on his shoulders and a quick-fire knock from him saved RCB. He scored 187 runs in nine innings, with a strike-rate of 185.15. 

Bowlers:

Pat Cummins, Noor Ahmad, Trent Boult, Sunil Narine

Many might be surprised to see SRH captain Pat Cummins in the playing XI, given SRH had a disappointing run. However Cummins, who had a slow start to the tournament, picked up the pace in the later half and finished the edition with 16 wickets in 14 matches, which is the fourth highest for an overseas player in IPL 2025. 

Also, Cummins showed promise with the bat and scored 97 runs in nine innings. In the spin department, Noor Ahmad and Sunil Narine are the obvious picks. The Afghan star was the leading wicket-taker among the overseas player in IPL 2025 with 24 wickets to his name. On the other hand, Sunil Narine, picked up 12 scalps, while he also scored 246 runs in 12 innings. 

In the pace attack, Trent Boult's inclusion is also a no-brainer and the left-arm seamer's ability to take wickets in the powerplay, helped MI reach the playoffs. The former New Zealand seamer took 22 wickets in the season. 

Impact Sub: Josh Hazlewood

The above-mentioned list is based on the fact that the team is batting first, which is why Josh Hazlewood the impact sub, who can be brought into the attack, in the second innings. Further, the list cannot be complete without Hazlewood. The RCB star bowler was the key contributor behind Challenger's first-ever IPL trophy and the Australian seamer took 22 wickets in 12 innings.

For the unversed, with this performance, Hazlewood also scripted the record for taking most wickets in a season for a team that went on to win a trophy.

IPL 2025: Best Overseas XI

1. Mitchell Marsh
2. Phil Salt
3. Jos Buttler
4. Nicholas Pooran
5. Heinrich Klassen (Wk)
6. Dewald Brevis
7. Tim David
8. Sunil Narine
9. Pat Cummins (C)
10. Noor Ahmad
11. Trent Boult
Impact Sub: Josh Hazlewood

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