The league phase of the IPL 2023 is almost two-thirds finished. Barring a few games in Lucknow, the tournament has mostly been a high-scoring competition, with 200+ scores breached regularly and even being chased; Mumbai Indians became the first team to gun down 200+ totals in consecutive matches.
The IPL 2023 has seen a number of expected stars; those who weren’t really expected to make a significant impact but have done so.
Here are 5 biggest surprise packages of IPL 2023:
Ajinkya Rahane
It would be fair to say Ajinkya Rahane has surprised all the fans with his extravagant, aggressive batting in the Indian Premier League 2023. Injury to Ben Stokes allowed him to make his CSK debut against MI and he rattled 61 off 27 balls and stun everyone. He continued on that run and in 6 innings, he’s scored 224 runs at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 189. His powerplay strike rate of 222 is amongst the best in the competition so far.
Piyush Chawla
This is a lovely story that Piyush Chawla is conjuring in Indian Premier League 2023. From going unsold in IPL 2022 auction and featuring in only 1 match in IPL 2021, Chawla is carrying Mumbai Indians‘ bowling attack this season and is in the Purple Cap race: Chawla has taken 15 wickets so far – the third highest – in 9 matches and has maintained a terrific economy of 7.28.
Shivam Dube
While RCB tried and failed to make Shivam Dube a finisher, CSK and MS Dhoni unlocked his potential as a middle-overs spin basher in Indian Premier League 2023. Despite his lack of feet movement, Dube stands and tonks the spinners for fun and has become an intimidating batter to bowl for the tweakers.
In 8 innings, Dube has scored 264 runs at a strike rate of 158 with 3 fifties to his name. He has a strike rate of 165 against spinners.
Rinku Singh
Ahead of the start of the season, not many would have that that approaching the playoffs, Rinku Singh would be the biggest hope for KKR. The left-hander played a stunning knock against GT, making the most memorable finish with 5 sixes in 5 balls, and has been on a terrific run-scoring spree.
Rinku is currently the leading run-scorer for KKR. Rinku has the best average (52) among the KKR batters; he’s scored 316 runs – the highest in his team – at a strike rate of 148, regularly performing rescue acts.
KKR 3/92 & he scored 42*(23)
KKR 5/142 & he scored 40(15)
KKR 3/47 & he scored 46(33)
KKR 3/128 & he scored 48*(21)
KKR 5/96 & he scored 58*(31)
KKR 4/70 & he scored 53*(33)
KKR 3/35 & he scored 46(35)
Tushar Deshpande
If Chawla’s story is that of a comeback, Tushar Deshpande’s is that of unbelievable rise. From being mocked and trolled by his own franchise fans to holding the Purple Cap, Deshpande has grown leaps and bounds under MS Dhoni and CSK.
He leaked 51 runs and 45 runs in his first two matches, but then he started picking wickets while bowling the difficult overs – in the powerplay with the field restrictions and in the death overs. With 17 wickets, he’s currently the joint-highest wicket-taker, but his economy of 10.77 needs improvement.
