Top 10 South African players to have played in the IPL

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is rightly crowned as the most popular cricket league in the world with its ability to bring about ‘Unity in Diversity’. Whether it is Sachin Tendulkar or Chris Gayle or Shane Watson, the IPL enables these players to come together and play as a unit. With players from all leading cricketing nations playing in the IPL, the league has brought to the fore the budding stars of almost all these nations.

While a lot of Australian and West Indies players have had great success in the IPL, the South Africans haven’t been too far behind. South Africa are among the top 3 teams in all formats of the game and the players behind that success have contributed equally to their team’s success in the IPL too.

Here are the top 10 South Africans to have played in the IPL:

10. Chris Morris

After a lot of jostling for his services in the 2013 auctions following his impressive displays in the 2012 CL T20, a bid of USD 625,000 saw CSK getting hold of South African all-rounder Chris Morris. After playing an instrumental role for the side in their 2013 campaign where they finished as runners-up, Morris surprisingly fell out of favour in the 2014 season.

Morris subsequently moved to the Rajasthan Royals in the 2015 edition and his performances were royal indeed as he scalped 13 wickets from 11 matches at an impressive economy rate of 7.40, thereby playing an important part in RR reaching the playoffs after failing to do so in 2014.

9. Imran Tahir

He came in as a handy replacement for the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile in 2014 for the Delhi Daredevils. He scalped 9 wickets in the 6 matches he played. The leg-spinner continued to be a boon in the 2015 season as he took 15 wickets in the 10 matches that he played.

Expected by many to clinch the purple cap in the initial stages of the recent season, his form eventually faded away and he was dropped for a few matches.