IPL 2018: 7 Players who are doing wonders for their new Franchise
The 11th edition of Indian Premier League entered its third week with the double-header last night, and the first two weeks have been as thrilling and exciting as the fans could have asked for.
Kings XI Punjab are sitting right at the top of the table, whereas Delhi Daredevils, despite having one of their strongest squads in years, is drooling at the bottom of the table.
While most of the victories have been combined efforts of the players of the respective squads, certain usual suspects have continued to make an impact this season as well.
Virat Kohli and Sunil Narine, retained by their respective sides RCB and KKR, are leading the batting and bowling charts, while AB de Villiers, Andre Russell and Chris Lynn have set the stage on fire with their explosive batting styles.
However, most of the impact has been made by the players who were expected to be retained by their previous squads because of their exceptional record playing for them but were surprisingly let go.
Here are the seven players who are doing wonders for the new franchises they are playing for in this season.
#1 Nitish Rana (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Even though he was one of the main reasons for Mumbai Indians' victorious campaign last year, no one was expecting Nitish Rana to be retained by the defending champions.
I mentioned this that Rana will the wild card for KKR in one of my articles and, so far in this season, Rana has played the same role for KKR that he played for MI.
Given that they are floundering near the bottom of the table, the Mumbai-based franchise is definitely regretting the decision they made regarding Rana's retention.
So far, Rana has been the backbone of the KKR middle order, scoring runs in all but one match in this season.
With 165 runs scored at a strike rate of over 135, Rana is the second highest run scorer for KKR.
However, it has been his hidden talent with the ball that has done wonders the team, with his prized scalps of Kohli, De Villiers, Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short laying the foundation of two victories for KKR.