5 foreign cricketers who built their reputation in the IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a huge boon for the younger player not only the domestic players but also for the foreign players as well. The IPL gives them the chance to share the dressing room with international stalwarts and get the opportunity to make a strong impression to catch the eye of the national selectors.From the inaugural season of IPL back in 2008, the most talked about T20 league in the world has come long way and in the way it successfully launched many players on the big platform. The idea behind the whole fast, entertaining league was to give the big platform to young players.Players like Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya and even veteran Ashish Nehra has built their T20 reputation in the IPL. The emergence of younger players has been an essential part of IPL over the years.But IPL has not only benefited Indian cricket with the emergence of players performing big for the national team, it has certainly benefited world cricket by producing the platform where many leading international cricketers from foreign countries built their reputation.IPL was instrumental in changing the careers of these talented individualsfrom different countries and helped them to re-establish themselves in front of the national selectors.Here we pick five foreign cricketers who built their respective reputations in the IPL:
#5 David Hussey (Australia)
This talented Australian is known as one of the best players of the T20-format and IPL has been instrumental for him to get this reputation. In the inaugural IPL in 2008 Kolkata Knight Riders surprisingly picked him at the player auction when he was only known as the younger brother of Mr. Cricket Michael Hussey.
By the end of the tournament, David Hussey made his own identity as one of the most useful players in the IPL. He made 319 runs in 13 IPL matches that season at an average of 29 and with a strike-rate of 123.16, he also chipped in with two wickets with his part-time off-breaks. His fielding skills are also a very big plus of his game.
Hussey represented Australia in 69 ODIs and 39 T20Is and played some memorable innings for his country. Apart from Kolkata he has also played for the Kings XI Punjab and for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
In a total of 64 IPL matches he has scored 1322 runs at an average of 26.97 and with a strike-rate of 122.97. He has also taken 25 catches in the course of the same number of matches. Undoubtedly David Hussey gained international recognition through IPL.