IPL 2023: 5 deserving players who did not get single game

The 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) recently concluded with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) becoming the champions by defeating Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets (D/L method) in the final held at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The tournament was played for almost two months and during the period, ardent league watchers witnessed brilliant performances from some prominent cricketing superstars.

In the IPL 2023, Vijay Shankar became one of the notable names as he put up excellent batting shows for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the competition. Despite witnessing Shankar’s failure in the 2022 IPL season, the GT team management supported Shankar and in return, he delivered some fine performances to the side from his bat.

Not everyone was as lucky as Shankar as there were also a few players in the tournament who deserved to get a game during the season but didn’t get a opportunity to represent their sides.

Here are five players who didn’t get a single game during the entirety of IPL 2023:

5. R Sai Kishore

Gujarat Titans (GT) trusted Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed to reinforce their spin attack and in return, both players delivered superb match-winning spells to the side. The performance of both Afghanistan spinners blocked the entry of the left-arm spinner Sai Kishore into the playing XI.

In the 2022 IPL edition, Kishore played five matches for GT and took six wickets at an economy of 7.56. However, this year, he didn’t get any match for Titans due to the efficiency of Rashid and Noor. The 26-year-old is a known name in India's domestic cricket as he has won a lot of games for Tamil Nadu with his spin bowling.

So far in his domestic T20 career, Sai has taken 57 wickets for Tamil Nadu in 49 matches at an economy of 5.48. In the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he became the leading wicket-taker for Tamil Nadu, with eight wickets in six matches at a frugal economy of 4.13.