IPL: The oldest and youngest players to have won the title
The Indian Premier League (IPL) title is one of the most highly coveted pieces of silverware in world cricket. Every year, eight teams battle it out in the world's premier T20 competition. The tournament never fails to deliver, as every year, we witness thrills, spills and drama aplenty before one team finally lifts the IPL crown.
The IPL plays host to some of the biggest names in cricket from all over the world. Over the years, the IPL title has been won by world-class cricketers, legends of the game who've played in the tournament after retiring from international cricket, and emerging talents who've made themselves known on the global stage.
Here, we take a look at the youngest and oldest winners of the IPL title.
Oldest and youngest players to have won the IPL title
The oldest cricketer to have ever won the IPL is Sachin Tendulkar, who was 39 when he won the tournament with the Mumbai Indians in 2013.
Tendulkar was unable to take part in the match due to a tendon injury, and announced his retirement from the tournament after the triumph. It was a fitting end to the Master Blaster's IPL career, as Mumbai were crowned IPL champions to end their six-year wait to lift the famous trophy.
Despite being close to the end of his cricketing career, Tendulkar still showed his class in the tournament, scoring 287 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 124.24. The former Indian captain scored one 50 and was the Man of the Match in their crucial group-stage win over the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The youngest cricketer to have ever won the IPL is Sanju Samson, who was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad when they won the tournament in 2012. While Samson, who was 17 at the time, did not play a single game during his debut year in the competition, he was scooped up by the Rajasthan Royals one year later.
With the team, he became the second-youngest player to hit a half-century in the IPL, and won the Emerging Player award in 2013.