3 players who played their 1st match of an IPL season directly in playoffs ft. Rahmanullah Gurbaz

IPL playoff matches put the players under enormous pressure. Even the players who reach the playoffs after performing exceptionally well in the league round experience pressure at the grand stage.

For example, SunRisers Hyderabad's opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had been in phenomenal touch during the league stage. However, they got out in single digits for the first time in Qualifier 1 against the Kolkata Knight Riders a few nights ago at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

It shows how the playoff round is different from the league stage. Generally, teams prefer to enter the playoffs with a settled lineup, consisting of players who have been regularly a part of the playing XI. However, here's a list of three players who played their first game of the tournament in the playoffs.

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#1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz played his first match of IPL 2024 in the playoffs

Afghanistan's wicketkeeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz is a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad this season. He was a regular member of KKR's match squad in IPL 2023. However, this year, the Kolkata-based franchise preferred Phil Salt as their first-choice wicketkeeper batter.

Since Salt performed so well in the league stage, he kept his place in the match squad for all the matches where he was available. After the match against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on May 13, Salt left KKR and joined the England squad for the home T20I series against Pakistan.

KKR could have tried Gurbaz in their final league game against Rajasthan Royals on May 19, but the fixture got abandoned due to rain. Hence, he played his first game of IPL 2024 in the Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He didn't show any nerves and scored an impressive 14-ball 23, hitting two fours and two sixes.

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#2 Darshan Nalkande played his first match of 2023 playoffs in Qualifier 1

Last year, Gujarat Titans made a surprising change to their match squad for the Qualifier 1 match against the Chennai Super Kings. The Titans brought Darshan Nalkande in for his first match of the season, replacing Yash Dayal in the team.

Nalkande could not perform well and leaked 44 runs in his four overs. With the bat, he got run out for a golden duck. GT dropped him for the Qualifier 2 match against Mumbai Indians, and he did not play another game in the competition.

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#3 Sunny Gupta played his only game in the 2012 playoffs

Virender Sehwag pulled off one of the most shocking decisions in IPL history on May 25, 2012, to make up for the injured Irfan Pathan's absence. The Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) captain left out the season's highest wicket-taker Morne Morkel and included Andre Russell in the playing XI. Irfan's place went to Sunny Gupta, who had never played a match in the league's history before.

More surprisingly, Sehwag handed the ball to Gupta to bowl the first over. He bowled three overs and went for 47 runs in his wicketless spell. Delhi lost that game by 86 runs, and Gupta never played in the league again.