5 Players who exceeded the expectations in IPL 2017

After 60 games in the season this year, Mumbai Indians came up triumphs to win IPL 2017, which was their third title overall. Rohit Sharma marshalled his troops exceptionally well in Hyderabad to defend a total of just 129 against Rising Pune Supergiant winning the game by 1 run. A number of stellar performances were given by various cricketers throughout the 45-day period. As many as three hattricks were recorded – one each by Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat and Samuel Badree – and three five-wicket hauls were registered this year. The balance between bat and ball was almost even this season as 23 Man of the Match awards were grabbed by bowlers, the most in the history of the IPL. There were players who vindicated their high price tag by delivering for their franchise during crunch moments while a few failed to come good as they were burdened by the high price they got in the auctions in February. Along with such cricketers, there were a few which came good despite the franchise not expecting too much from them. Let us have a look at 5 such players who exceeded the expectations this year: 1. Rahul Tripathi Rahul Tripathi. (Photo Source: Twitter) One of the main reasons Tripathi was chosen to play for RPS, apart from having hit six sixes twice in local cricket in Pune, was that he was the sole player who hailed from Pune in the entire franchise. Acquired at his base price of 10 lacs by RPS, Tripathi went on to play 14 out of the 16 games played by the team this year. The 25-year old started in the middle order, which is his usual position in domestic cricket before he was asked to open the innings alongside Ajinkya Rahane. What conspired next left everyone dumbstruck. Tripathi found his rhythm at the top of the order as his free-flowing batting allowed him to score quickly during the powerplay. His breakthrough innings was the 93-run knock against KKR when he took every bowler to the cleaners. Tripathi managed to score 391 runs in 14 innings at 27.92. His strike rate of 146.44 was the standout feature of his batting. He outscored big internationals stars, Rahane and Smith, in the middle stages of the league but could not deliver a meaningful performance during the playoffs. 2. Washington Sundar Washington Sundar of Rising Pune Supergiant celebrates. (Photo: IANS) Young Sundar faced a huge challenge of stepping into R Ashwin’s shoes. Being a fellow off-spinner who also hailed from Tamil Nadu, Sundar had the right attributes but his effectiveness at this level remained untested. Aged 17, Sundar made his debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad and was bowling the second over of the match against the likes of Dhawan and Warner, both attacking openers. Sundar displayed a cool demeanour and went about his business very quietly conceding just 19 runs from 3 overs. Not a bad T20 debut by any stretch of the imagination. The 17-year old off-spinner went on to play 11 games in which he picked 8 wickets at an economy rate of 6.16. His best performance was the memorable spell of 3/16 he bowled against eventual champions Mumbai Indians in the 1st Qualifier which won his team the game. Sundar truly performed more than RPS had expected of him. 3. Rashid Khan Rashid Khan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Young Afghani spinner Rashid Khan had built a reputation of being a smart leg spinner who picks a lot of wickets against fellow associates. Sunrisers Hyderabad punted on the rookie spinner and acquired him for Rs 4 crore. It all seemed like a dream for Rashid but he knew that he had to prove his mettle at the big stage. Just a few games into the season, Rashid became Warner’s go-to-man. Warner repeatedly got him on to bowl during the Powerplays and the leg-spinner never disappointed. Big international stars struggled to pick his googlies and Rashid held a tight lid over batsmen during the course of the tournament. He went on to play all 14 games of SRH this year and collected 17 wickets from them. The significant aspect about his bowling was his economy rate of 6.62. 19-year old Rashid had announced himself on the big stage by exceeding the expectations which were set off him. 4. Basil Thampi Basil Thampi of Gujarat Lions. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Basil Thampi bowled his heart out during the entire season of the IPL for Gujarat Lions. Aged just 23, Thampi had a reputation of bowling with pace and delivering yorkers whenever the need be. He did not disappoint as he bowled well and was awarded the Emerging Player of the season award. Thampi got big wickets of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Kieron Pollard and MS Dhoni this year which must have given the fast bowler a lot of confidence. The yorker that he delivered to uproot Gayle’s stumps was one of the moments of IPL 2017. Though Thampi picked just 11 wickets in 12 games in the season, his performances were acknowledged by some big names of cricket. 5. Nitish Rana Nitish Rana. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Delhi boy Nitish Rana started the season with a bang as he scored runs consistently in the first half of the season. Playing for Mumbai Indians, Rana once had the orange cap on his head. He was promoted to bat at No. 3 and justified it by getting important runs in tensed chases. He scored three fifties and as many as two thirties in his first five innings in the tournament to showcase the talent he possesses. As the season went on, Rana failed to keep those stellar performances going and was eventually dropped from the XI for the experienced Ambati Rayudu. Rana would be still very proud of his season where he scored 333 runs in 11 innings at 30.27. He is a talent which needs to be groomed well to enjoy rich dividends later. He gave Mumbai the early momentum and was an unlikely hero.

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5 Players who exceeded the expectations in IPL 2017

These players exceeded the expectations by delivering stellar performances consistently for their respective franchises.

4. Basil Thampi

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