There have been 14 editions completed of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Plenty of young, unheard names have shone at different times, won matches and titles for their respective teams, and then faded away.
There are a number of cases in the rich history of the IPL where a player has produced magic, coming out of nowhere and wiping the floor, but then diminishing soon after.
Here we look at 5 such players who became just a ‘one-season wonder’ in the IPL:
Paul Valthaty
Talking about one season wonders- there is no more famous, more impacting player on this list than Paul Valthaty in 2011 for Kings XI Punjab. The right-hander had played in only 2 matches before that season, that too in 2009; in 2011, Punjab promoted him as an opener and he tore into a strong CSK bowling attack early on in the tournament, hammering a staggering 120* off 63 balls, and becoming the talk of the town.
He hit a couple of more fifties in the tournament, finishing with a total of 463 runs at an average of 35. However, his IPL career fell apart the very next season – just 30 runs in 6 matches in 2012 and 1 more game in 2013. Valthaty was picked by his domestic side either after that.
Saurabh Tiwary
Sporting a long mane like MS Dhoni, Jharkhand’s Saurabh Tiwary was adjudged the Emerging Player of IPL 2010 when he helped Mumbai Indians reach the final, with his total of 419 runs that season.
He even got to play three ODIs for India later that year, however, Tiwary’s numbers took a shocking nosedive after that: since 2011, Tiwary never managed more than 200 runs in an IPL season and his strike rate hardly crossed 120. After a decade of mediocrity in the IPL, Saurabh Tiwary finally went unsold in the IPL 2022 mega-auction.
Swapnil Asnodkar
A talented attacking top-order batsman, Swapnil Asnodkar played a crucial role in Rajasthan Royals’ title win in the inaugural season in 2008, including in the final vs CSK scoring 28 runs off 20 balls in the run-chase.
Asnodkar scored 311 runs in the 2008 season, but lost form soon the next year, 2009, averaging just 12 in 8 matches with no score of fifty or more. 3 more games in the next two seasons, and that was it for Asnodkar in the league. He continued to play domestic cricket for Goa until 2018.
Manvinder Bisla
Manvinder Bisla is amongst the most famous stories of the IPL. It feels as if Bisla had only one aim in his life: stop CSK from making a hat-trick of IPL titles; Bisla played like the IPL 2012 final was the last game of his career and won it for KKR.
Not as if Bisla was an unknown entity till then – he had had some decent outings, but just 1 fifty in 21 matches before the final wasn’t putting any threats in CSK‘s mind. Then he did: Bisla, coming in the eleven replacing Brendon McCullum, and seeing Gautam Gambhir get bowled for a duck, went on to slam 89 runs off 48 balls, helping KKR win their first IPL trophy.
But his form declined after that. And though he got to play in 14 games in 2013, his average of 30 in 2012 dipped to 19 in 2013; he got in the eleven for just three more games across the next two seasons with little impact. He played domestic and local cricket until 2017.
Manpreet Gony
Manpreet Gony shot in the limelight in the first IPL season in 2008, finishing as CSK’s join-highest wicket-taker that year – snapping 17 wickets in total and becoming an integral part of the side that reached the final.
Soon after, the pacer was added to India’s squad for the 2008 Asia Cup and played a couple of matches picking up as many wickets. However, he couldn’t replicate his 2008 success in any later seasons, managing 20 wickets in his next 28 games across six seasons he played in, his last one in 2017. He last played domestic cricket in 2019 and now features in different low-profile leagues.
