Some players are gifted with power while some with style and elegance. These are the players who generate power without looking like butchers, players who coax the ball, whose shots are more about timing than about brute force and strength.
This year’s IPL, like every year, witnessed some extremely stylish and vintage players, playing a bevy of glamorous shots. Interestingly, most of the stylish players were Indians considering the wrist work that is the legacy of players from the sub-continent.
Even in T20’s, Indians display the efficacy of supple wrists that can outdo at times, the benefits of power. Mind you, elegance and style as displayed by players like Mohammad Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, Mahela Jayawardene, Zaheer Abbas and David Gower are rare and it is asking for too much from a T20 match.
Nevertheless, connoisseurs weren’t disappointed with the beauty on show at the IPL 2016. Here are some attractive players who caught our attention.
10) Jos Buttler
Buttler was one of the best additions to the IPL this year. He took to the IPL and Mumbai Indians like a fish takes to water. Buttler added power to the MI team down the order besides donning the wicket-keeping gloves.
Scoring 255 runs in 14 innings at 23, Buttler didn’t bring down the roof. Nevertheless, for an English player in his first season, he wasn’t bad. He is in a league of his own when it comes to unconventional cricket, playing ramp shots, paddles and scoops at will, strokes he pulled off with great elan at this year’s IPL apart from the trademark hoick over the cow-corner.
9) David Warner
The man, who won the Glam Shot of the Season Award for an unbelievable flick off his pads for a six over midwicket, ending in a Helicopter flourish, was once brutish in strength and almost always more power than elegance.
But, Warner this year showed he can ooze elegance too if he feels like it, playing late at times on slower Indian tracks without really sacrificing his power. He was consistent to a fault scoring 848 runs at 60 with a strike-rate of 151, next only to AB and Virat Kohli amongst the top 20 run-getters.
8) Shikhar Dhawan
Dhawan’s feet don’t move much. He is leaden-footed when the ball moves and is a dead duck if the ball is short on his leg-stump. However, on the off-side there are few better players to watch.
His trademark punches through the cover and scythes over extra cover have given Sunrisers Hyderabad many a fiery start as he formed the league’s most prolific opening partnership with his skipper David Warner. Dhawan ended the season No.4, with 501 runs at 38.5 although his strike-rate was a lowly 116, thanks to his cautious approach.
7) Brendon McCullum
McCullum scored 354 runs at 22 with a strike-rate of 135. That was not a great season but he was one of the reasons why the Gujarat Lions was the team to beat in the league stage. His loss of form in the latter half probably overlapped with the Lions’ loss of fizz towards the end.
Nevertheless, McCullum, who is known for his swashbuckling style of play is also one of the most elegant players to watch. The New Zealander hits them beautifully, with lovely arches, great bat swing and great back-lift. He doesn’t look like he is over-hitting anything. Brendon is also one of those rare players like AB de Villiers who is as pretty to watch on the field as he is with the bat.
6) Murali Vijay
One of the biggest strategic mistakes of the season was Kings XI Punjab picking David Miller as the skipper. It affected his form and Punjab ended with the Wooden Spoon. Murali Vijay showed himself in good light as a skipper in the latter part and would have saved his team the ignominy of the last spot finish if not for the horrendous decision to have Axar Patel bowl the last over to MS Dhoni.
Nevertheless, Vijay is one of India’s most stylish players improving year after year. Nicknamed The Monk, for his patience, Vijay scored 453 runs this year at 35 with 5 half-centuries. Vijay rarely hits the cover off the ball, caressing it more often along the ground. The Mohali track suits his style of play too, as he used the pace of the bowler often.
5) Yuvraj Singh
There were glimpses of the vintage Yuvraj we all once knew. The flicks off the pads over deep square leg, the minimal-fuss cover-drives dipped in honey and the hoicks over midwicket – Yuvraj showed some sparkling form in the latter part of the IPL 2016 after missing out a few matches early on because of an injury.
Yuvraj managed a respectable 236 runs in 10 innings at 26 with a strike-rate of 132. More importantly, he played some excellent innings in the knock-out matches under pressure and deservedly ended up in the Champion Team of the Year. Yuvraj fans didn’t have him to their heart’s content. Nevertheless, we saw some substantial innings from him.
4) Rohit Sharma
Probably the most frustrating player on the planet to watch, Rohit Sharma was born to play pretty shots. He clears the field with ease not because of power-hitting but because of a sense of timing that is almost freakish.
When Rohit’s shots come off they look surreal and sublime. His offside drives between cover point and mid-off are as good as they get and from time to time he takes the aerial route as a release shot.
When in full flow, Rohit almost manages to be as elegant as the great VVS Laxman. If only he could conjure Laxman’s consistency as well. He had a good year, although Mumbai Indians faltered. Rohit scored 489 runs at 44 with 5 half centuries in 14 innings winning quite a few games leading from the front.
3) Ajinkya Rahane
Rahane on his day plays like a dream, with Ganguly’s off-side game and Dravid’s onside game, including a ferocious pull and an efficient hook shot. T20 was never supposed to be his forte but he has settled down nicely, playing lovely lofts on the offside and great on-drives, not to mention his trademark straight drives down the ground and some ferocious square cuts and back-foot punches.
Although he finished on the losing side more often than not this year with the Rising Pune Supergiants, he still managed to be the seventh most prolific run-getter with 480 runs at an average of 43 with a strike rate of 126 in 14 innings. He scored 6 half-centuries too, ending up without too much support from the other side.
2) AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers is probably the only player in the world right now who can play a shot that is 100% on power and yet, 100% on elegance too, a rare gift that is bestowed once in a generation.
AB finished with 687 runs but those included sweeps off fast bowlers, reverse sweeps off fast bowlers, flicks off his pads, gorgeous on-drives with a whirly whip of his bat around his head and booming cover drives.
The 360-degree player has earned his sobriquet thanks to mind-numbing footwork and magical wrist work combined with a genius mind, the complete athlete on show at Bangalore, a pitch tailor-made for run-machines.
1) Virat Kohli
Kohli is one of the most stylish players going around at the moment in all formats. 973 runs at an average 81, with a strike-rate of 152 are extraordinary numbers. It is unprecedented that without hitting ugly shots, Kohli also bagged the prize for the most sixes in the tournament.
The man with wrists of nylon, can step out and caress the same ball past point or past extra-cover or whip it off his legs past midwicket. His lofted shots over the extra cover and new penchant for sweeps, combined with his stylish pulls make him the most complete player amongst the new generation, given his dominance against spin too.
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
