Players Who Made International Comebacks through IPL Performances

Players Who Made International Comebacks through IPL Performances: The Indian Premier League has been a prime Cricketing stage and players utilised it as a platform to prove their impact in the game. Also, some of the rejected pros of the game, used this platform to deliver a stern message to the respective selectors by their stand-out performances in the league. In order to extract out some tales of inspiration, here are the list of players who used IPL as a platform for their international comeback. 1 – Shane Watson: Shane Watson RR. (Photo Source: BCCI) Watson was going through a dry patch in international cricket and was out of the national squad due to his poor form, when IPL was inaugurated in 2008. Right in the very first season, Watson proved his fiery point by performing superbly well in the first edition of IPL. Perhaps, Watson was the Man with the Golden Arm in IPL 1 when he went on to pick up 17 wickets and scored 472 runs, which was enough for him to be the Player of the Tournament. As a conclusion to such majestic performances in the IPL, Watson was recalled into the Australian squad and the 31-year old all-rounder stood to be one of the pivotal characters in the Aussie line up till date. This can be marked as one of the best comebacks to international level by virtue of domestic performances. 2 – Yusuf Pathan: Yusuf Pathan KKR. (Photo Source: BCCI) The hard hitter from Baroda and the elder of the Pathan brothers did manage to peek into the Indian squad ahead of the T20 World Cup in 2007. In fact, he opened the innings for India in the all-important final but failed to deliver under such magnified pressure. As a result of which, his name was on the verge of flickering away from the consideration of the selectors but his bombarding performances in 2008 IPL caught the eyes of many. The right handed batsman formed the nucleus of the batting line up of RR when it came to pinch-hitting. Yusuf smacked 435 runs in the first season and has been instrumental in RR’s triumphant march in the season. Also, his 37 ball century in 2010 earned him a spot in the national squad which ultimately led to his inclusion the World Cup, 2011 squad. IPL has been something out of the box for this batting all-rounder. 3 – Kieron Pollard: Kieron Pollard MI. (Photo Source: BCCI) Prior to the IPL in 2010, the name Kieron Pollard was unheard. Due to his devastating performances in that IPL, he made his stature in the international cricket as one of the batsman with murderous instincts. In fact, Pollard’s blistering knocks carved the path for MI to be the runners up of the respective season. He was one of the retained players for them in 2011 as well as in 2014. Prior to IPL 2010, Pollard was in and out of the West Indian squad but since then he was a consistent member for them and was an important character in the squad in World Cup, 2011. However, he was dumped from the squad prior to World Cup, 2015 but the West Indian once again made his presence felt in the ongoing IPL by striking a number of swaggering cameos. He is sure to make his mark into the national squad shortly. 4 – Robin Uthappa: Robin Uthappa KKR. (Photo Source: BCCI) The right handed technical batsman from Karnataka was an important member of the squad in 2006-07 and was also a prime batsman for the team in the 2007 World Cup. After a few unsatisfactory performances on a trot, the name Robin Uthappa simply flickered away from the national squad. But Robbie is not a man to lose hope. He worked hard and revolutionised his batting and had a glorifying Ranji season in 2013-14 which was followed by a fairy tale-alike season for KKR in 2014. In fact, Robbie created the record for scoring 11 consecutive knocks of 40+ runs in IPL in the season. Needless to say, he was the orange cap winner of the season with 660 runs. After his mentionable performances in the season, he was brought back into the national squad for the Bangladesh tour and was also included in a few ODI series in India. 5 – Shaun Marsh: Shaun Marsh KXIP. (Photo Source: BCCI ) The left handed Marsh has got a decent history and bondage with the IPL. As a matter of fact, he was the first winner of the Orange Cap in the inaugural season of IPL. Marsh scored as many as 616 runs for KXIP in IPL 2008 which included a blistering century. Due to his brilliance and consistency right at the top of the order, KXIP proceeded to the final 4s of the tournament. Prior to IPL 2008, Marsh struggled considerably to make his mark into the national Aussie squad but his majestic IPL performances earned him a settled spot in the national team. 6 – Harbhajan Singh: Harbhajan Singh MI. (Photo Source: BCCI) The turbanator has been through some severe rough patches in Cricket in the past year. He was dumped from the national squad almost over 2 years ago. Also, his exclusion from the World Cup squad darkened the chances of his return to international cricket. But the Punjabi was determined enough to make it back to the international cricketing sphere. He has bowled incredibly well in this year’s IPL and has been the breakthrough bowler for MI this season. Apart from that, he also constrained the scoring rate of the opposition to a considerable extent by his decent spells. Harbhajan managed to take 16 wickets in 14 matches this season. His incredible spell against CSK in the first qualifier where he dismissed Raina and Dhoni in successive deliveries impressed many. As a result of his recent performances, Harbhajan has been included in the test squad for India for the Bangladesh tour.