IPL 2019: Ranking the best all-rounder for each team
Cricket is a peculiar sport, where a player can contribute to the team in different aspects. Apart from contributing with either bat or ball, each player contributes immensely in the fielding department. In the form of all-rounders, some of them are gifted to cause impact in all three departments.
T20 format established the importance of all-rounders, as teams wanted to accommodate seven batsmen and six bowlers in their playing eleven. The advent of franchise-based leagues where teams are built by player auction or draft, all-rounders gave the much-needed balance to the respective squads.
Indian Premier League teams were built on the same lines with franchises lined-up to form the core with an International star and some quality all-rounders. In 2008 runners-up Chennai had the likes of MS Dhoni with Albie Morkel and Jacob Oram while the winners Rajasthan had Shane Warne with Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan. Coaches have adopted this strategy and have strengthened their teams with all-rounders.
Let us look at the list of best all-rounder from each IPL team:
#8 Sam Curran (Kings XI Punjab)
Kings XI Punjab had an impressive start to the 11th edition of IPL winning five out of six games. They had a week's break and with that, they lost momentum in the later stages as they could muster only one win in the last eight games as they failed to qualify for the knockouts. They retained only nine of their players and were set for a revamp.
They bought as many as six all-rounders with England's teen sensation Sam Curran being the highest bid overseas player in 2019 player auction. Left-arm pacers have always troubled the batsman with the natural angle that they create coming over the wicket. Curran did trouble Indian batsman in the test series in which he was named as player of the series.
He is a dangerous batsman with the bat as well wielding the long handle. He made match-defining performances with the bat top-scoring for England in the first and fourth test. He is expected to play a key role in the fortunes of Kings XI Punjab. It will be interesting to see how he fares in Indian conditions.