3 popular cricketers who neither batted nor bowled on IPL debut
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is now revered as a stepping stone for rising cricketers who aim to break into the national squad. As a result, the debut or the first impression becomes a crucial aspect.
Memorable debuts often go a long way to rest a player's case if he can make the most of it. In other cases, the first-ever contest does not go as planned. However, in rare cases, players do not avail an opportunity to either bat or bowl on their debut, which can be due to multiple reasons.
For instance, Joe Root, who waited years to make his IPL debut could only make his mark as a fielder in the Rajasthan Royals' (RR) last-ball defeat against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).
The England international was not brought out to bat in the high-scoring encounter while his off-spin bowling services were also not required during the second innings.
On a lighter note, this is not the first time that Root did not get a chance to bat or bowl on his debut. He did not bat across his ODI, T20I, or Hundred debuts either in the past.
Much like Root, there is a small set of players who did not bat or bowl on their IPL debut. Here are three of them.
#1 Dinesh Karthik
The veteran keeper-batter is among the rare breed of players who have played every season of the IPL to date. The first of his 239 IPL matches came in the form of the Delhi Daredevils' (now Delhi Capitals) maiden outing.
The Virender Sehwag-led side notched a comfortable nine-wicket win over the eventual champions Rajasthan Royals (RR), meaning that Dinesh Karthik did not get a chance to bat on his IPL debut.
Interestingly enough, he did not get a chance to bat in his second match as well, where Delhi once again won by nine wickets over the now-defunct Deccan Chargers.
Karthik eventually got an opportunity to bat in the team's third match of the season. He ended up scoring 24 runs off 14 balls against the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Mohali.
#2 KL Rahul
The wicketkeeper-batter made his IPL debut for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2013 edition against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). With Arun Karthik donning the gloves for RCB in the contest, KL Rahul was an outfield player penciled to bat in the middle order.
However, RCB did not require his assistance with the bat in the contest. After being set a target of 155, they managed to chase it down in 17.3 overs while only losing two wickets.
This particular fixture is famously known for the altercation between then-KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin
The legendary Indian spinner is one such player who had nothing to show for in his maiden IPL appearance.
Ravichandran Ashwin made his IPL debut in the inaugural match of the 2009 edition for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in South Africa.
In the encounter where MI edged out by 19 runs, Ashwin neither batted nor bowled. After opting to field, MS Dhoni used only five bowlers to get through the 20 overs, with Ashwin not being one of them.
During the run chase, CSK lost seven wickets, but Ashwin was assigned a lower position in the batting order, meaning that his turn never came. He has since gone on to become one of the most influential players not only in the franchise's history but in the entire league as well.
Who do you think will be the next player who will fail to get a chance to bat or bowl on his debut? Let us know what you think.