Five former players who would have dominated the IPL

We often hear about players who are 'ahead of their times' and really revolutionize the way that the game is played in their era. It would be interesting to see which former players were so ahead of their times that they would have been able to be successful in T20 with the way they played in their era. This list looks at five such former players, who would have dominated the IPL had they played in this era. To be eligible for this list, a player must have played their final international match before 1st January, 2005.

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#5 - Kapil Dev

Almost undoubtedly India's greatest ever all-rounder, Kapil Dev would have been a force to be reckoned with in the IPL. In an era where 270 in 60 overs was a match winning total, he had a strike rate of 95 in ODIs. It was not as if he was just a tonker capable of playing the cameos, he could play the big innings as well. An example of this is his 175* against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells in 1983, which remained the highest ODI score for India until 1999.

With regard to bowling, he is definitely the greatest fast bowler that India has produced and was one of the greatest bowlers of his era, taking 434 wickets in 131 tests and 253 wickets in 225 ODIs. Additionally, he was also a reliable fielder who took many a great catch, most memorably his catch running backwards to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 World Cup final. Seeing how the likes of Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo have dominated the IPL, one can only imagine the impact that Kapil Dev would have had.

#4 - Jack Iverson

The 'original mystery spinner' himself, Jack Iverson, while not known to many readers, would have been a handful to face in the IPL. Hailing from New South Wales, this spinner only played 5 Test matches and 34 first class games overall, so there is not much of a statistical set to assess. His first class numbers are good (157 wickets in 34 games), but the primary reason that he features on this list is how he created magic with the ball in his hand. It is said that his odd manner of gripping the ball (in an era where technique took precedence over everything else) between his thumb and middle finger allowed him to extract vicious turn off the surface. While there is not too much else to speak about, it sure would have been entertaining to see how batsmen would respond to Iverson wreaking havoc in the IPL.

#3 - Waqar Younis

Seeing the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga bowl yorkers, one would think that it cannot get any better. But Waqar Younis, the yorker king as he is known, would certainly have given Malinga fierce competition. Credited for bringing reverse swinging yorkers onto the world stage, Waqar Younis would have dominated the death overs in the IPL. Not just one who could contain runs, Younis was also an extremely talented wicket-taking bowler, picking up 373 wickets at an average of 23.56 in Tests and 416 wickets at an average of 23.84 in ODIs. The sight of Waqar running in and bowling his reverse swinging yorkers in the IPL is one which all viewers would have loved to see, and one which all batsmen would have dreaded.

#2 - Sir Garfield Sobers

Undisputedly the greatest all-rounder of all time, Garry Sobers would have been the ultimate MVP at the IPL, had he played. As a bowler, he could bowl left-arm fast medium, slow left-arm orthodox, and left-arm chinaman. His bowling record itself is quite good, with 235 wickets to his name in 93 Tests. Bowling aside, he is a batting giant who had a test average of 57.78 after 93 tests. Not one who would just block all day, Sir Garry Sobers was known as one of the most attacking batsmen of his era, even once hitting six sixes off six balls in an over in a county game. Combined with his gun fielding ability, Sobers would have got the closest one could get to a 'perfect T20 player', and would have surely torn it up at the IPL.

#1 - Sir Viv Richards

The presence of Viv Richards, arguably the greatest batsman of all time, on this list should surprise no one. With his "swagger" and utter disdain for bowlers, Richards would have been like the Chris Gayle of 2011-12 multiplied by a hundred. Along with Kapil Dev, he re-defined what playing aggressively meant in his era, and had a strike rate of 90 in ODIs. But while Kapil Dev's average was only 23.79, Richards averaged almost double of that at a whopping 47. His batting ability alone would easily make him the one player that every cricket lover wishes they would have seen in the IPL, but Richards was also a handy bowler, picking up 118 wickets in the 187 matches he played. When Virat Kohli made 972 runs in IPL 2016, everyone thought that that was the pinnacle of IPL batting. But it is safe to assume that had Richards played the IPL, many records including Kohli's would have been under threat.