The Indian Premier League has redefined cricketing entertainment in India. To see the greatest cricketers of the world play for our cities is an amazing feeling. Through a decade of the Indian Premier League we have seen a plethora of great performances and sportsmanship.
Today we look at the top 5 performers in the Indian Premier League. These performers have been valuable assets for their franchises and have served the larger part of the entertainment that this gala cricket league offers. These players are the greatest combinations of power, experience and skill.
1. Chris Gayle
If you were to pick an opener for your dream T20 team you wouldn’t want to choose anyone over Gayle. He’s all about the big distance hitting which the shortest format is the game is known about. Chris Gayle isn’t a batsman but a force and an invincible one.
He’s an impact player and given his day he can decimate the opposition single handedly. 2011 was his best year in the IPL when he garnered 608 runs from just 12 games.
Chris Gayle has 265 sixes in the tournament which tell you why he is one the greatest performers in the Indian Premier League and why the T20 format belongs to him by all means.
2. Virat Kohli
The Indian Skipper is the best limited overs batsman and there’s no dispute to this. Virat Kohli has shown that T20 isn’t just about big hitting but also about stalwart batting skills which come from the coaching manual.
With a tally of 4418 runs in the IPL so far he’s the second highest run getter in India’s favourite domestic cricket league.
In the year 2016 the Indian skipper amassed 973 runs and guided his team to the finals with 4 hundreds and 38 sixes. He never goes out of form rather he is the form! He knows the best as to how one leads from the front.
3. MS Dhoni
The very sight of his walking out to bat sets in the stadium a tale defending chants of “Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni” He’s a cricketer widely loved and worshiped and has served the Indian cricket immensely as a captain as well a player.
MS Dhoni has 3561 runs in the tournament and his lightening fast wicket keeping skills add much more value to the team. He’s one of the best finishers in the shortest format of the game and amazingly clinical with the gloves.
4. Lasith Malinga
The best death bowler in limited cricket is Malinga. His ability to bowl yorkers one after the other is just amazing. Malinga in his IPL career has 154 wickets from just 110 games and rarely has his economy ever seemed out of shape.
With 1060 dot balls he is second on the list of most number of dot balls in the IPL. Dot balls are just so important in this shortest format of the game where one dot ball can put the batsman under an immense pressure.
5. AB De Villiers
Talk about impact players and how can you leave his out of discussion! AB De Villiers is one of the most destructive batsman in modern day cricket and his ability to hit any bowl in his chosen direction is just so amazing.
He has 3473 runs in the tournament and besides his destructive batting he’s also an agile fielder and a think tank. His strike rate in the IPL has been well over 140 which has been the highlight of his IPL career. He’s a match winner and any team would be delighted to have ABD by their side.
