IPL 2021: Indian Premier League faced an unexpected hiatus as the fray had to be postponed indefinitely given an infringement of the bio-bubble that witnessed the rise in Covid cases in a span of just three days. Despite a brazen attempt from BCCI to continue the cricketing affair in the face of the pandemic, the measures taken weren’t strong enough and that compelled the organizers to take a back-burner and wait for the fray to be completed.
Before the tournament was stopped, it produced a few remarkable performances from a handful of players. May it be Indians or foreigners, they came together to belt out a rock-solid display that led to the current stature of the points table in the ongoing edition of the fray.
In this story, we will be taking a look at the top five Indian players who impressed in the current edition of the fray before it was stopped.
#1 Prithvi Shaw
This young man drew severe flak from the cricketing analysts after failing in the preceding edition of IPL and also the India Australia series. A couple of errors that Shaw persistently kept on committing were getting too restless in the middle and attacking every single delivery which was laced with a titanic gap between his bat and pads. The youngster took the criticism in a very serious way and changed his stance completely. He plugged the void between his bat and pads and settled down before attacking the bowlers. He reaped handsome dividends in this year’s IPL as he was able to garner 308 runs from just 8 games at a stunning average of 38.50 and a blistering strike rate of 166.48. He has also scored three half-centuries in the tournament to make him one of the most successful Indian cricketers in the ongoing tournament.
#2 Harshal Patel
In a star-studded bowling line-up that featured the likes of Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Sams, Mohammad Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal, the man grabbing the limelight was Harshal Patel. Imprinting scintillating figures of 17 wickets from 7 matches, he is leading the contention for Purple Cap by a proverbial mile. The last two games that he was a part of, failed to produce a class act that saw him going for a lot of runs. However, before that, he was the apple of Virat Kohli’s eye whenever the captain was looking for wickets. He has so far been a revelation in the ongoing edition of the fray.
#3 Shikhar Dhawan
The Gabbar of the Indian cricket team is on song as the ongoing edition of the fray has seen him stitching together a staggering 380 runs from just 8 games. He revved up his scoring rate ever since the latter stages of IPL 2020 which has shown no signs of rust until now. It is the opening pair of Delhi Capitals that has cleared their path of any hindrances, propelling them to the ace of the points table. Dhawan’s rich vein of form across all formats of the sport has witnessed him blasting three half-centuries in 2021 IPL and scoring at a breezy rate of 134.27.
#4 KL Rahul
Rahul hasn’t stopped scoring since the last edition of the fray. Despite Punjab’s woeful form in the current edition of the campaign, the skipper has led from the very front, garnering 331 runs from just 7 games. He has shown dominance with the willow and has managed to score 4 half-centuries in IPL 2021. His best in the tournament has been an unbeaten 91 and his strike rate reads a stormy 136.21 which has improved from the last year’s figure of 129.
#5 Rahul Chahar
This young man has been another epiphany in the current IPL as Mumbai has ridden on his back way too frequently to support an askew bowling attack. The defending champions have failed to conjure something extraordinary with the blade in their hand barring their last game that saw Pollard smoking a blitzkrieg to defy Chennai’s mammoth total. In the remaining games, Mumbai’s batting unit has averaged close to 150 and it has needed some magical displays from the bowlers to turn a couple of ties around. Rahul Chahar has been an exceptional bowling force in the Mumbai echelons as he has managed to claim wickets at a regular interval. His current return from the ongoing edition of the tournament reads 11 wickets at an extraordinary economy rate of 7.21. Keeping aside the figures, he has also exuded sparks in impact situations that may very well be ringing in Kohli’s ears.
