IPL 2021: Rating performances of Indian bowlers who will feature in the T20 World Cup
The Indian Premier League (IPL) was viewed by most teams this year as a precursor to the T20 World Cup. After all, there is hardly any gap between the two events. IPL 2021 ended on Friday, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final.
The T20 World Cup 2021 will begin on Sunday with Round 1 matches. The main round - Super 12 - will begin on October 23. While the second half of IPL 2021 was held in the UAE, the T20 World Cup will also be played in the Middle East - UAE and Oman.
IPL 2021: Analyzing performances of India’s T20 World Cup bowlers
A number of Indian players who have been picked in the T20 World Cup 2021 squad featured in the IPL. Some shone while a few disappointed. In this feature, we rate the performances of Indian bowlers in the recently-concluded T20 league.
Shardul Thakur (9/10)
CSK pacer Shardul Thakur is a bowling all-rounder, but he hardly got an opportunity to bat during IPL 2021. It was as a bowler that he made an impact and it was a massive one. Thakur lived up to his nickname ‘Lord’, picking up wickets every time the team needed it.
The medium-pacer ended his IPL 2021 campaign with excellent numbers - 21 wickets in 16 matches at a strike rate of 17.09 and an economy of 8.80. Thakur's economy rate is on the higher side because he struggled to make an impact during the first half of IPL 2021 in India. Following the success in the Test series in England, though, he was a different bowler.
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He was MS Dhoni’s go-to man with the ball in the UAE leg of IPL 2021. Thakur was among the wickets in almost every match. The 30-year-old also made the big difference in the final, claiming three big scalps. He broke the dangerous opening stand by dismissing Venkatesh Iyer and added the scalps of Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi.
Varun Chakravarthy (8.5/10)
Leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy had a memorable IPL 2021 campaign for KKR and, along with Sunil Narine, gave opposition batters a tough time. Chakravarthy often opened the bowling for the team and stifled the scoring in the powerplay overs.
He claimed 18 wickets in 17 matches at a strike rate of 22.66 and an exceptional economy rate of 6.58. Even when he was not picking up wickets, Chakravarthy hardly gave any runs away, allowing bowlers at the other end to claim wickets.
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The 30-year-old was the player of the match for his stupendous figures of 3 for 13 as KKR rolled over RCB for 92. He dismissed DC openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw in Qualifier 2 before going wicketless in the final against CSK.