Over 50 matches played so far this Indian Premier League and we’re hitting the business end of the tournament as teams fight it out for the final berth in the playoffs.
But which player has impressed the most over the last 5 weeks? Which team looks solid to lift the title next Sunday?
Well, who better than the men who have followed each and every game from closest quarters – Star Sports’ ‘Dugout’ team. Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara, Matthew Hayden, Dean Jones and Scott Styris are put on the spot as they make their picks for the star player of the season so far.
Kumar Sangakkara: Andre Russell
“I’ve gone for Andre Russell because for a power-hitter, one of the most difficult things to do is to be consistent time after time and he’s done that. He’s come out, he’s changed games, he’s won games for KKR from impossible positions and more importantly, as a character, he has developed. He’s come out and voiced his opinions quite strongly, a few times. He’s made it back into the West Indies side and the West Indies being strong again is so essential for World Cricket and Russell can be part of a great journey there as well.”
Matthew Hayden: David Warner
“One element of any version of cricket is the mental capacity, so for my pick, I’ve gone for David Warner. I think he’s had a pretty difficult last 12 months, so mentally this tournament was very important for him to set up his position as one of the really dominant cricketers in World Cricket. Around 700 runs, averaging 70 basically. What a player. And he’s taken it to a new level as well. It’s not just his Powerplay, we all know he’s great at that. The way that he’s actually shown running between the wickets to be a major feature in T20 cricket, I think we’ve seen a lot of the players getting out just trying to go for the big shots. David Warner was fantastic.”
Kevin Pietersen: Kagiso Rabada
‘I’m going with Kagiso Rabada. He is a world-class athlete, he’s a world-class bowler and I think that the pressure that the Delhi Capitals... having changed their name, having changed their colours, having changed everything about them. I just think there was a lot of pressure from them to do the business this year and in those circumstances you need to have a player that you can turn to in difficult situations and Kagiso Rabada is one of those guys. I think he’s leading the wickets this season for a very good reason. I found that Super Over that he bowled to Andre Russell, up at the Feroz Shah Kotla about a month ago, one of the most beautiful overs of bowling. That yorker that he bowled was from the 1940s and he executed it perfectly. So my dude is Kagiso Rabada.”
Dean Jones: Riyan Parag & Shreyas Gopal
“I think the best kid we’ve seen in the whole of the IPL is definitely Riyan Parag. I think he’s a really good talent. I think this kid could be up there. We don’t know how good he’s going to be but I think he’s great.”
“I love the leg-spinners. I think Shreyas Gopal has been outstanding with 18 wickets. I just wonder – if India chose their World Cup squad right now, would he be now being in the squad, with a couple of others missing out. I really enjoyed his battle with AB de Villiers and also knocking over Virat and he got a hat-trick. What else can he do?”
Scott Styris: Hardik Pandya
“I’m going to stick to your theme of sorts. I’m going to go with another Indian player and I’m going to go with Hardik Pandya. I think it’s difficult for all-rounders to grow their game-batting and bowling at the same time. Usually, one season the batting takes over then the next the bowling, and at the moment it’s the batting. And at the moment, the one player who I think can compete with Andre Russell for the power-hitting is Hardik Pandya and that bodes immense potential and skills coming into the World Cup as well for Pandya to maybe take the game by storm at the World Cup and be a match-winner for India too.”
(The Select Dugout, is a bespoke feed that brings fans closer to the game with deeper fan engagement and detailed analytical and predictive commentary; peppered with demos by experts on Star Sports Select 1 SD + HD.)
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