IPL 2024: The Indian Premier League has frequently given athletes a stage on which to perform. It is regarded as one of the world’s largest cricket competitions. Players’ careers have the potential to flourish in the IPL, but they also have the potential to fail. However, some players quietly and unobtrusively represent their team despite all of this notoriety. As we approach the IPL 2024 let’s have a lookback at the underrated players.
The names of the league’s top players, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma, are almost universally known. Still, a few other cricketers who were never considered superstars had impressive T20 league records. Ahead of IPL 2024, Let us examine five of the undervalued players in the history of the Indian Premier League.
IPL 2024: Underrated players in IPL:
5) Piyush Chawla:
Player Piyush Chawla passed up several chances to represent India in international competitions. More often than not, his amazing IPL performances went unnoticed. He didn’t spin the ball as far as Shane Warne did or bowl as quickly as Anil Kumble did. He was reliant on length, tempo shifts, and a strong line. The leg-spinner’s googly was his main source of celebrity. With 179 wickets to his name, he is currently the third-highest wicket-taker in IPL history.
Piyush Chawla has a strong early influence. He played for Uttar Pradesh U-22 and India Under-19 as a 15-year-old. At 17, he had already bowled Sachin Tendulkar with a googly in a Challenger Series match before making his first-class debut. He took 35 wickets and scored 224 runs in his first season in the first class, helping UP win the Ranji Trophy for the first time.
He participated in two Test matches in his adolescence, against South Africa and England. In 2007, he made his ODI debut in Bangladesh, taking three wickets. Later that year, he took 14 wickets while India was touring Ireland and England, frequently troubling Kevin Pietersen with both the straight and googlies.
4) Nitish Rana:
The Delhi batsman started his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with MI in 2016. After the team won the 2017 Indian Premier League, he was let go. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) paid 3.40 crore to acquire Nitish Rana in the 2018 Indian Premier League auction. In the end, he became a regular in the KKR starting lineup.
Furthermore, Nitish Rana took over as captain in place of Shreyas Iyer, who was the regular captain. The Indian team hasn’t given the batter any credit despite the fact that he is an essential member of their team.
Rana debuted for Delhi in both List A and T20 during the 2012–13 season, but he didn’t play in a Ranji Trophy match until the 2015–16 season. His first-class debut season was impressive. With 557 runs at 50.63 for the season, including a century and three fifties, he finished as Delhi’s highest run scorer, having run out Wasim Jaffer for a duck and scoring a half-century on his debut against Vidarbha.
Rana credited his time with the Mumbai Indians for developing his big-hitting ability. Despite not participating in any IPL 2015 games, the franchise purchased him for INR 10 lakh at the 2015 auction. The Mumbai Indians decided to keep him before the IPL 2016 auction.
3) Yusuf Pathan:
Yusuf Pathan doesn’t have the same level of celebrity as cricketer MS Dhoni, despite being a more skilled player. He has amassed almost 3000 IPL runs and a strike rate of 143, which is among the best in IPL history. The middle-order batsman broke the record for the fastest T20 century in 2008. When he was at his best, he was as deadly as they come, even though his striking ability has waned over time.
A powerful batsman and off-spinner who excels in shorter formats, Yusuf Pathan was originally selected for the Baroda Under-16 team in the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 1999–2000. He swiftly ascended the ranks to the Baroda U-19 and the West Zone U-19 sides thanks to his outstanding performances.
He made his Ranji Trophy debut against Saurashtra in 2001–02, but he didn’t become a regular in the Baroda squad until the 2004–05 season, by which time his younger brother Irfan Pathan was playing for his country. Yusuf was Baroda’s third-highest wicket-taker and fourth-highest scorer at the end of the 2004–05 season.
2) Shaun Marsh:
Everyone was captivated by Shaun Marsh’s incredible batting ability during the inaugural IPL season. At an astounding average of 68.44, he amassed 616 runs to become the first-ever IPL run-scorer. The southpaw had given his side strong starts time and time again, amassing 2477 runs at an average of over forty with the help of twenty half-centuries and a century. His brother Mitchell Marsh, though, continues to start every game for his IPL team.
One of the great mysteries of Australian cricket is still Marsh. Australian selection panels consistently see him as a potential top-order prospect, particularly in Tests and ODIs, despite his amazing ups and downs in form.
Even though he was eventually left off the squad due to his dismal Test performance in 2018–19, he had excellent ODI form, scoring four centuries in a 12-month period to secure his spot in the 2019 World Cup squad. A CA contract for 2019–20 was also given to him; he is 35 years old and only plays for the ODI team.
Despite not playing much T20 international cricket, he has been an excellent T20 franchise player. In 2008, he was named Player of the IPL for Kings XI Punjab and was the team’s top run scorer.
1) Amit Mishra:
The seasoned leg-spinner is one of the best Indian bowlers at taking wickets in the Indian Premier League. The experienced leg-spinner also holds the record for the most IPL hat-tricks claimed. Mishra has been a member of the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Lucknow Super Giants for the past few seasons.
Mishra gained notoriety in 2013 after claiming 21 wickets in that campaign. In the end, this proved to be vital in securing his spot in the Delhi squad. In 161 games, Mishra has claimed 173 wickets, including a career-high 5 for 17 innings.
Nearly two years after his last international match, he was called up to the Indian ODI squad for the Champions Trophy in England and the tour to Zimbabwe after putting on a strong performance in the 2013 IPL, where he kept the batsmen guessing with his variations in flight and pace.
He exceeded expectations, taking 18 wickets at an average of 11.61 in five One-Day Internationals against Zimbabwe, matching Javagal Srinath’s record for most wickets in a bilateral series. Mishra’s form carried over into the World T20 in Bangladesh the following year. With India using a three-spinner strategy and finishing runners-up to Sri Lanka, he took 10 wickets at a strike rate of 14.70 and conceded just 6.68 runs per over.
So, this was all about the upcoming IPL 2024 and the most underrated players. Also read, Virat Kohli becomes third most popular sportsperson in 2023.
