IPL 2018: 6 cricketers who took their IPL career to the next level
Indian Premier League is the tournament that has provided us with so many talented cricketers over the years. Due to this fact, the competition amongst the players is very stiff in the modern-day era where the factors like age and fitness come into play quite easily.To keep themselves in the hunt, these cricketers have to adapt, improvise, add new skills to their arsenal back & again to outplay their rivals or even teammates for that matter.
We've seen many players, who struggled to find a place in the team initially, went on to become the mainstays for their franchise.Many of them including Chris Gayle, Mike Hussey, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, took quite some time to find their feet into the tournament.
Not to forget the negative point of view, we have witnessed some players like Unmukt Chand, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Sudeep Tyagi, Paul Valthaty, Manvinder Bisla, losing their spots for failing to do so. This is the universal truth and a very important aspect in the development of the game of cricket.
Let us have a look at those players who raised their game by a notch in the 2018 season and played a crucial role in their team's journey.
#6 Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav, often termed as SKY by a few commentators on air, has been a part of IPL from past seven years. The Mumbai-born cricketer started off his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2012, where he faced just 4 deliveries throughout his stint with them, that included a couple of seasons on the bench (2011 & 2013).
He started getting opportunities in 2014 when he was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders but the role assigned wasn't utilizing him entirely. Yadav mostly batted at number 6 or 7, therefore didn't get enough chances with the bat.
The 27-year-old right-hander, unfortunately, never scored even 200 runs in an entire season with KKR. But in 2018, when Mumbai Indians brought him back for ₹ 3.2 crores, he was promoted as an opener which turned out to be very fruitful. Surya went on to become the top scorer for MI with 512 runs under his belt. The batsman, who earlier had only one fifty to his name, slammed 4 in the season.