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Former South African cricketer Dale Steyn was the premium fast bowler of his generation. The 40-year-old intimidated many a batter with his majestic run-up, supreme pace, and unplayable outswingers in his illustrious 17-year international career.
While the speedster enjoyed tremendous success in Tests, bagging an incredible 439 wickets at an average of 22.95, his numbers in white-ball cricket are often overlooked. The former Proteas spearhead also picked up 260 wickets for South Africa in white-ball cricket, including three 5-wicket hauls in ODIs.
The legendary pacer holds numerous cricketing records. This includes having the best strike rate in Tests among bowlers with 400 or more wickets, and also reaching the 400-wicket landmark in fewest Tests among pacers.
Steyn also won the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award in 2008 and spent 263 weeks (a record) at the top of the World Rankings for bowlers, between 2008 and 2014.
While his international numbers are enough to show his greatness, Steyn also enthralled Indian fans with his artistry in his 11-year IPL career. The South African great started his tenure with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2008 before moving to Hyderabad (Deccan Chargers/SunRisers) from 2011 to 2015.
The ace pacer then played for the Gujarat Lions in 2016 before joining RCB for a second stint from the middle of the 2019 season till 2020.
Steyn picked up 97 wickets from 96 matches in his IPL career at an average of 25.86 and a terrific economy rate of 6.92 runs per over.
Dale Steyn now works as the bowling coach for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), having been in this position since the 2022 season. During his five-year tenure with the Hyderabad franchise, the legendary seamer picked up 65 wickets in 61 games.
As one of the greatest cricketers to ever grace the game of cricket celebrates his 40th birthday, let us look back at, arguably, his three best deliveries in the IPL.
#1 Dale Steyn cleans up Suresh Raina with smashing yorker in IPL 2019
Dale Steyn made a sparkling return to the IPL midway through the 2019 season as the replacement for Nathan Coulter-Nile. Despite playing in only two games, the 40-year-old provided the impetus for their back-to-back wins after their miserable 1-7 start.
In his second and final game of the season, Steyn produced a sensational first over in defense of RCB's 161/7. He picked up Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson off the penultimate delivery and followed it up with a rip-roaring yorker to Suresh Raina.
The pacy delivery jagged back in to clean up the left-hander and send the off-stump cartwheeling. It had the commentators awestruck and sent the crowd into a frenzy as teammates led by skipper Virat Kohli mobbed the champion pacer.
The double-wicket opening over proved pivotal in RCB's one-run victory over their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
It turned out to be Dale Steyn's final celebratory moment in his IPL career, as he got injured and didn't play any more games that season.
#2 Dale Steyn cleaning up Richard Levi in IPL 2012
2012 was arguably the peak of Dale Steyn's illustrious career. The South African produced one of the best spells of swing bowling during Deccan Chargers' second game against the Mumbai Indians.
Having posted a paltry 138/9 with the bat, the Chargers looked toward their strike bowler Dale Steyn to spark a comeback. The pacer responded in style by producing one of the best opening spells in IPL history.
After dismissing opening batter Tirumalasetti Suman in his opening over, Steyn produced an unplayable delivery that swung in the air and castled Richard Levi in his second over. He enjoyed dismissing his fellow countryman with his trademark pumped-up celebration.
Despite the Hyderabad franchise going down, the Champion bowler finished his magical spell with figures of 3/12 in four overs.
#3 Dale Steyn's outswinger followed by slower delivery to dismiss Chris Lynn on his comeback in IPL 2019
After missing the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Dale Steyn stormed back into the IPL in the ninth match of RCB's disastrous campaign of 2019. It was against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Defending a massive total of 213, the ace bowler provided RCB with the perfect start by removing the dangerous Chris Lynn in the first over of the second innings.
Steyn produced the perfect outswinger on the first ball of KKR's innings, drawing the outside edge from Lynn, only to be dropped by Marcus Stoinis at the first slip.
However, the South African remained unperturbed and picked up the KKR opener with the final ball of the over with a lovely slow inswinger. The batter mistimed his chip straight to Virat Kohli at mid-off.
Steyn finished with two wickets to help RCB win just their second game of the season by 10 runs.
