IPL 2022 Playoffs: 5 unexpected finishers of the season
The emergence of a plethora of young Indian talent has been one of the major takeaways from IPL 2022. The tournament, now well and truly in its business end, has been a major hit in that aspect, having catapulted many lesser-known names into the limelight.
So much so that these players have gone on to deliver under clutch moments, be it with the ball or the bat. And it's not just restricted to youngsters, mind you. Some of the more experienced players too have gone out of their comfort zone to execute duties that aren't usually associated with them.
One of the most arduous and thankless tasks in T20 cricket is finishing the innings with the bat. It's never easy to start hitting from the word go against a ball that isn't brand new. A two-paced wicket only complicates the matter even further.
Yet, IPL 2022 has seen a few surprise finishing options emerge and deliver when the going has gotten tough. We take a look at five such names here:
#5 Shashank Singh (SRH)
It took Shashank Singh five games since his debut to finally get a hit out with the bat in IPL 2022. Given that the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) bowling unit and top order were doing the bulk of the work in any case, the Chattisgarh all-rounder had very little to do.
However, when the opportunity came his way against the Gujarat Titans (GT), he didn't let it slip. An unbeaten six-ball 25 studded with three consecutive sixes to round off the final over bowled by Lockie Ferguson saw Shashank announce himself to the world.
He wasn't able to do much thereafter and SRH slumped into an abyss in the second half of their campaign. That said, Shashank truly emerged as a surprise finishing option who stood tall in the game against GT.
#4 Rinku Singh (KKR)
"Aligarh ke baadshah" is what Harsha Bhogle termed him and well, Rinku Singh truly lived up to it alright. IPL 2022 will go down as a breakout season for the Uttar Pradesh batter, who has been a serial run-getter across formats in domestic cricket.
He's been with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) since 2018 but has always been bereft of a decent run in the playing XI. The Knight Riders drafted him into the lineup for their eighth fixture against GT, and he responded with a fluent 35 after the top-order was reduced to rubble.
It was as a finisher though that Rinku would go on to leave a mark. A handy 23 against the Delhi Capitals and a match-winning unbeaten 42 against the Rajasthan Royals followed, but the game against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) saw the southpaw write himself into IPL folklore.
Needing 21 off the final over, Rinku tore into Marcus Stoinis to bring the equation down to three off the last two deliveries. While he perished to an outrageous Evin Lewis catch and the game was lost, the contest, one of the greatest the league has ever witnessed, will be remembered as much for his 15-ball 40, as it will be for Quinton de Kock's unbeaten 140.
Given the nerves of steel Rinku Singh has displayed throughout his IPL 2022 campaign, it's safe to say that sky is the limit for the youngster from Aligarh.
Check out the IPL purple cap 2022 here.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin (RR)
His exploits as an off-spinner and an all-rounder in Test cricket are well-documented, but IPL 2022 has given a true glimpse into Ravichandran Ashwin's capabilities as a T20 all-rounder. An average of 30.83 and a strike-rate of 146.82 vindicates the same as he's emerged as the X-factor for the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
What's even more remarkable is how fluently Ashwin has taken on a number of roles. Apart from negotiating movement in the powerplay overs, Ashwin has also been in charge of finishing the innings for the Royals in IPL 2022. This wasn't part of his initial job description though, as he described after the win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last week.
With his unbeaten 23-ball 40 in that contest aside, Ashwin showcased his smarts and new-found range in the death overs with an invaluable nine-ball 21 against the Mumbai Indians (MI) earlier this season. In an RR side that seemed to lack a bona fide all-rounder post the IPL 2022 Auction, Ashwin put his hand up and delivered in style.
#2 Jitesh Sharma (PBKS)
Having had a reputation for being a hard-hitting batter in domestic cricket, Jitesh Sharma finally got his break in IPL 2022. The wicket-keeper from Vidarbha set the tournament alight and emerged as a surprise finishing option for the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
So much so that when the Kings needed to rejig the makeup of their XI halfway through the tournament, with Shahrukh Khan and Odean Smith, the two batters expected to do the finishing job, being dropped. The mantle passed onto Jitesh, who came up trumps on a regular basis.
With nerves of steel and equal assurance against spin and pace, Jitesh regularly found the fence and ended the tournament with a strike rate of 163.63. His 34-ball 44 threatened to pull off a heist against the Delhi Capitals (DC) last week and if anything, that was the culmination of Jitesh's announcement to the world as a mature finisher.
#1 Ayush Badoni (LSG)
Having batted just once in five T20 innings, Ayush Badoni was as unknown a commodity as they had come ahead of IPL 2022. Not many would have pencilled him down into their starting XI for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
However, he was thrown into the mix from the word go and the rest, as they say, is history. A stunning 54 on debut against GT saw him set the stage alight, having walked into the Wankhede Stadium at a precarious score of 29/4. Badoni showed ice in his veins to seal run chases against CSK and DC thereafter, displaying immense composure in the process.
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Ayush Badoni - AB 🙌
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LSG skipper KL Rahul dubbed him the 'Baby AB' of his IPL team. Badoni hasn't found the going easy as the IPL 2022 season has progressed with a constant shuffling of his batting positions not helping his cause. That said, he's made quite the first impression and has made it clear that he's one to keep an eye out for.