One-season wonders in IPL
In its 11th year since its inception, the Indian Premier League has produced some great performances from players all over the world. Many such performers have defined entire editions of the popular league like Virat Kohli’s run of play in the 2016 edition or Chris Gayle in the 2012 season. At the same time IPL is a massive platform for the Indian domestic players. The likes of Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal owe a large part of their national team selection and success to this cricketing extravaganza.
But not everyone has been able to show grit and perform consistently in the tournament. While the likes of David Warner, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli have been pretty consistent performers, there are many players who were finds of a particular season but failed to create that kind of impact for long and were not up to the mark in the successive seasons. Some of these players, who had not played for the national side yet, fell into obscurity.
Here is a look at five of such domestic players:
#5 Paul Valthaty
Primarily a top-order batsman, Paul Valthaty became the centre of all attention when he hit an outstanding century playing for the Kings XI Punjab against Chennai Super Kingsin IPL 2011.
The Mumbai-born cricketer had a memorable season in 2011 scoring 463 runs in 14 matches at an average of 35.61 and a strike rate of 136.98.
Valthaty complemented his outstanding knock of 120* with a couple of brisk half-centuries and looked in proper control, playing the aggressor in a side which had stroke players like Adam Gilchrist.
Along with his batting, he even picked up seven wickets with his part-time medium pace bowling and it seemed that he was indeed the next big thing in Indian Cricket.
However, the talented batsman who was also the part of the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2002, made just 30 runs in six games in the next edition and never really got into the scheme of things again.
Even in domestic cricket, Paul did not put up a special performance to draw the attention of the franchise or the national selectors. The right-handed cricketer is a one-time wonder of the IPL.
Valthathy is all set to feature in the Mumbai T-20 League which will be held from March 11-March 21. The 34-year old has been selected under the "Emerging Players" Category.