IPL: 5 stars whose shine remained only for one season

IPL has a knack for throwing unlikely superstars into the cricketing arena. The roots to the success of many established International superstars go back to their fabulous performances in IPL. Shane Watson, Manish Pandey, Sohail Tanveer, Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah are some of the names in this exhaustive list of players who made it big after a fabulous IPL season.

Finding stardom through IPL is only the tip of the iceberg as it takes consistent performance to keep up that stardom and repute. Over the years, there have been many instances when a player conquered the hearts of the cricket crazy Indian fans in one season but couldn't live up to the expectations in the subsequent seasons which ultimately resulted in a quick descent from the heights of fame. Some of such players have even gone into the oblivion.

Here, we take a look at five one-season wonders who couldn't repeat their good performance in subsequent seasons:

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#1 Swapnil Asnodkar (2008)

Asnodkar was a key hinge of Rajasthan's initial success

Asnodkar was a part of the title-winning Rajasthan Royals (RR) outfit in the debut season of the IPL. He was used as a punt player who was tasked with opening the batting for Royals and give some blistering starts alongside an experienced Graeme Smith. The young 24-year old lad didn't disappoint his captain-cum-mentor, Shane Warne, as he along with Smith provided some solid starts which paved the way for the onslaught by the likes of Watson and Yusuf Pathan.

Asnodkar was diminutive in size but was fearless in taking the attack to the opposition bowlers. He had a brilliant Ranji Season in 2007-08 where he scored 640 runs at an average of 71.11. The lad from Goa continued his rich vein of form in IPL too, as he scored a total of 311 runs from 9 games at a very good average of 34.55. His opening partner, Smith, also rocked the batting charts as his tally stood at 441 runs from 11 games in the tournament. More importantly, the duo went on to become a stable opening pair who provided great starts to the team and took care of the run-rate.

Asnodkar could not reproduce his 2008 chronicles in the next season which led to his exile from the IPL arena. Though he remains one of the highest run-scorers for Goa in first-class cricket with 5883 runs from 88 matches, his debut stint with RR remains the high point of his career.

#2 Paul Valthaty (2011 Season)

Valthaty had a mesmerizing season in 2011

Paul Chandrashekhar Valthaty was a part of IPL for five seasons from 2009 till 2013. He wore the KXIP colors from 2011 to 2013 after representing the RR camp for two seasons in 2009 and 2010. He batted as an opener for KXIP. His shot to fame came in the fourth edition of IPL where he cracked a blistering century to chase down 189 runs target from the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings. His 120 not out from 63 balls in that game against SuperKings was the first century of the season. In the next game, took his game to a whole new level as he smashed 75 runs off 47 balls and returned with brilliant figures of 4-29 with the ball.

He finished 6th on the batting charts for the 2011 edition with 463 runs from 14 games. Valthaty averaged 35.6 runs per innings and registered one hundred and two fifty-plus scores that season. It was really a grave disappointment that he couldn't carry on with the brilliance of 2011 and disappeared into the unknown from 2013 onwards.

#3 Saurabh Tiwari (2010 Season)

Saurabh Tiwari was the backbone of MI middle-order in 2010 season

The Jharkhand lad has been a permanent feature in the IPL arena. He was first signed by Mumbai Indians (MI) for the inaugural edition of IPL but his breakthrough season came in 2010. He scored a total of 419 runs from 16 matches with three fifty-plus scores in that tournament. He combined with Ambati Rayudu (356 runs from 14 matches) to give a solid middle-order support for the MI camp. He played a crucial role in his team's journey to the final that season.

For the next three seasons, he was a part of RCB setup but failed to recreate that old magic of 2010. Further, his stint with Delhi Daredevils (DD) in 2014 was cut short by an injury to his shoulder and Imran Tahir was called-up as his replacement. In 2016, the new franchise of Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) roped him in for their debut IPL season. He scored two half-centuries that season and followed them up with another one in 2017 for Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

His demotion in ranks, from being a first choice starter in the playing eleven to not finding a place in the starting eleven this season, has been glaring. The highlight of his IPL career remains the 2010 season that handed him a team India debut against Australia.

#4 Manpreet Gony (2008 Season)

Manpreet Gony had an impactful 2008 season

There were many pillars of CSK'S brilliant inaugural IPL. MS Dhoni's uncanny captaincy, Suresh Raina's batting, Mathew Hayden's aggressive approach upfront etc. were all hailed as reasons for the success of Men in Yellow but very few people recognize the true credit due to Punjab pacer, Manpreet Gony. He scalped a total of 17 wickets from 16 fixtures he played at a good economy of 7.38.

His best performance came in the high-octane semi-final against KXIP where he returned with figures of 4-1-14-2. Other CSK bowlers also chipped in with wickets as KXIP were eventually restricted to 112/8 in their 20 overs. CSK won the semi-final comfortably and ended up being second best to Rajasthan Royals in the final. Gony not only provided a wicket-taking option but was also a valuable asset down the order with his mercurial hitting abilities. It's unfortunate that he couldn't replicate his first season success which is why he remained confined only to Ranji Circuits. He did feature in subsequent IPL seasons but the magic of 2008 was nowhere to be seen.

#5 Rahul Sharma (2011 Season)

Rahul Sharma's heroics in 2011 season earned him an Indian Team call-up

The leg-break bowler from Punjab got his IPL breakthrough in 2010 when he represented Hyderabad Deccan Chargers but wasn't impressive enough to be fielded consistently by the franchise. He finished with 5 wickets from 6 matches in the 2010 edition. His fortunes favored him the next season as Pune Warriors India picked him up for the 2011 season. He took 16 wickets from 14 matches at a mind-blowing economy of 5.46.

The highlight of the bowling charts for the season was his dream spell against Mumbai Indians where he took the figures of 4-0-7-2. This was the most economical bowling performance of that season. His bowling in the MI fixture even earned him praise from Sachin Tendulkar and he was aptly awarded the Man of the Match though his team lost the fixture.

His IPL Chronicles earned him an Indian team call-up but he couldn't carry on his fabulous form of IPL. He was even hit by a bout of Bell's Palsy before the start of the third season. His condition was like a paralysis of muscles of the face due to which he found it difficult to flex his facial muscles. He overcame all these odds to feature in 2011 season without full recovery. But his national stint was not as successful as the IPL of 2011 and was later dropped from national colors.