Twenty20 cricket is a game tailor-made for cricket’s big hitters, and the Indian Premier League provides a stage for the elite overseas players, past international heroes and the locals to showcase their talents. So, who have been the big hits of the IPL so far in 2010?
Yusuf Pathan
The first centurion of the 2010 IPL series, the Rajasthan Royals batsman took to the Mumbai Indians bowlers with relish on March 13th, smashing an even 100 from just 37 deliveries at a strike-rate of 270.27 in an innings that included nine fours and eight sixes.
Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne labelled it as the best century he’d ever seen, and while the impartial observer might hasten to add that it’s the IPL, not the cricket World Cup final or a deciding Ashes Test, it was still one of the more exciting innings of Twenty20 cricket we’ve been treated to in domestic or international 20-over competitions.
Yusuf proved against the Deccan Chargers 13 days later that he’s more than just a on- innings wonder this season too, smashing another eight sixes on his way to an unbeaten 73 at Ahmedabad.
Jacques Kallis
If you were to clone one man to play Twenty20 cricket, you’d be hard pressed to go past Kallis. The barrel-chested South African is not only an elite batsman, he also bolsters the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling attack.
It’s the batting though that has earned Kallis his handsome IPL salary this year. The all-rounder has a high score of 89 not out so far this season, and a total of 310 runs scored at a strike-rate of 128.09. It took until Bangalore’s fifth match of the 2010 IPL series for a bowler to find a way past the all-rounder’s defences, such was his dominance in Bangalore’s first four matches of the year.
David Warner
It was only a matter of time before Australia Twenty20 specialist treated IPL crowds to a century and that time came when the Delhi Daredevils played the Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week. The swashbuckling opener clouted an unbeaten 107 from 69 balls – his first Twenty20 ton – and was the only man to stand up as Delhi’s top order crumbled around him.
Warner found the boundary nine times during that knock and cleared it five times in what is so far the highest score of the 2010 IPL series. The ambidextrous batsman had elicited some criticism for changing his stance from a left-handed batsman to a right hander during the Australian summer but this wasn’t an innings of party tricks. Warner simply played each delivery on its merits – evidently there were plenty the New South Welshman didn’t rate too highly – and dispatched them to all corners of the ground.
Warner’s brand of batting will mean he fails sometimes, but it’s successes like these that make the 23-year-old such a valuable commodity in Twenty20 cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar
The Little Master is proof positive that it’s not just the slash and bash batsmen who can make an impact in Twenty20 cricket, and during Mumbai’s match against Punjab yesterday, where he made just 11 runs, Tendulkar assumed the mantle of leading run-scorer in this year’s competition from Kallis. Expect the pair to rotate the orange cap throughout the series.
The Mumbai skipper’s stand-out innings so far this series is his 72 from 52 balls in the Indians’ five-wicket win over the Chennai Super Kings, a knock that included eight fours and a six and was pivotal in the Indians’ successful run-chase. Tendulkar has so far scored four half-centuries in this year’s IPL to lead the competition in this statistic as the 2010 competition nears the halfway mark.
Robin Uthappa
For the Indian players among the IPL, and they hold the majority of places, the competition is a chance for discovery or redemption. Uthappa, who hasn’t played an international match for India since 2008, is a player who falls into the latter category but the Bangalore batsman’s two half-centuries so far, including one achieved from just 19 deliveries against the Kings XI Punjab, have been game-changers for his side.
The 24-year-old’s 68 from 39 balls against Chennai proved another match-winning performance as Uthappa lifted his side to what proved to be an insurmountable 171-run total. Make no mistake about it, this man can score runs as fast as anyone in the IPL and the fact his last 39 runs of that innings came from just 10 balls – including three consecutive sixes – proves it.
Tags: