5 ex-Indian cricketers who would have excelled in the IPL
Indian cricket has achieved great strength over the last decade in terms of producing a talented pool of cricketers. The decade saw an extreme evolution of the game with the emergence of T20 cricket on the world stage, as India lifted the first-ever T20 World championship in South Africa under the leadership of skipper MS Dhoni.
The popularity of the shortest format increased with the emergence of the Indian Premier League in 2008, a first of its kind domestic cricket in India that has enthralled fans across the globe for over a decade now. While many cricketers have enjoyed the opportunity to showcase their talents in the IPL, there have been plenty of Indians who would have loved to be a part of such competitions during their playing days. As we ponder over this thought, let us take a look at the prospect of 5 former Indian cricketers who would have loved to be part of the slam-bang cricket and excelled in the shortest format of the game.
#1 Kapil Dev
India’s first-ever World Cup winning captain has always been regarded as one of the finest all-rounders Indian cricket has produced. Kapil Dev played 225 ODI matches for the country, scoring 3783 runs with the bat with a century and 14 half-centuries to his credit. He had an astonishing strike-rate for that time, scoring at a rate of 95.07 with a career-best score of 175* coming in trying circumstances during the 1983 World Cup against Zimbabwe.
The right-hander was even more potent with the ball in his hands, a then-world record 253 ODI wickets at an average of 27.45 with a remarkable economy of 3.72. For his significant all-round abilities and leadership, the Haryana-Hurricane (as he is fondly called) would have surely been on a priority list for most of the franchises.