IPL 2022: 10 pinch hitters who can earn a surprise promotion

Prior to the evolution of T20 cricket, the term ‘pinch hitter’ was generally associated with lower-middle batsmen who could finish off the innings with a flurry of runs. However, in this new era of the game, which has been spearheaded by T20 cricket, we have seen another category of pinch hitters who play a vital role for their teams. Gone are the days when a bowler’s job was to just pick wickets for his side, and curtail the flow of runs.

In the current scenario, a bowler who has pinch-hitting abilities is often rated highly, especially in the T20 market. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has somewhat set a benchmark for unleashing such ‘gems’ in the shortest format of the game. The trend which started with Sunil Narine opening the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders, has now been adopted by several IPL franchises through the years.

With the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League just a couple of days away, we will look at 10 bowlers who can turn out to be pinch hitters for their side, and earn a promotion in the batting order.

Here we will bring you 10 players who can turn out to be pinch hitters for the side:

1) David Willey (RCB)

David Willey returns to the IPL Arena, as the Englishman was Royal Challengers Bangalore’s final pick in the mega auction. Not only is the left-armer a useful option with the new ball in hand, but he can also strike a few hefty blows with the bat.

With Glenn Maxwell being the sole aggressor in the middle order, RCB could consider promoting David Willey up the order, in case the required run-rate creeps up or they need some quick runs. The Englishman has a strike rate of 123.5 in T20 cricket, and is famously remembered for smashing 34 runs off Nathan Lyon’s over back in 2018.

The left-arm pacer has scored over 1800 runs in List A cricket at an average of 25.5 and a strike rate of 95.6. The 32-year-old has plenty of T20 experience to his name, being a part of the English side that finished as the runner-ups at the ICC T20 World Cup in 2016.