IPL: 5 cricketers who turned into all-rounders

The Indian Premier League has seen several surprising performances over the years. While the capped and expensive buys underperform, the lesser-known names grab the limelight. Similarly, some cricketers have even seen a personal transformation in the tournament, that of becoming an all-rounder from a batsman or bowler. Here we look at 5 such cricketers who turned into all-rounders in the Indian T20 extravaganza.

#5 Nitish Rana

The batsman has 4 wickets from 5 games this season

For Mumbai Indians in 2016 and 2017, Nitish Rana was just a batsman who piled up 437 runs in 17 games! An aggressive batsman, the Delhi-born Rana has never been known for his wicket-taking ability, not even in his domestic state team.

This year, however, he has been putting up all-around performances for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Rana has taken 4 wickets in 5 games, including the prized scalps of Virat Kohli and Ab de Villiers! His stunning all-round performances have helped KKR lead the points table as of now (19 April).

#4 Suresh Raina

It was MS Dhoni's decision to play Raina as an all-rounder for CSK

For Team India, Suresh Raina’s role is still specified as a middle-order batsman on most of his profiles. Although he does have 62 international wickets from 314 games, he is yet to be recognized as an efficient all-rounder.

It was in the IPL that Dhoni started giving him the ball, a move that yielded great results, and soon later, on the back of good bowling performances in the IPL, Raina got more opportunities with the ball at the international level too. The off-spinner has 25 IPL wickets from 163 games.

#3 Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine has been opening for KKR since last season

Over the years, Sunil Narine has been the number one spinner and an X-factor for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The go-to man with the ball, the West Indian player suddenly emerged as an all-rounder last season, when skipper Gautam Gambhir’s move to have Narine open the batting paid rich dividends.

Of the 224 runs he scored last year, one knock saw him score the joint-fastest IPL fifty which came in just 15 balls. This year too, he has already scored 107 runs in 5 games at a strike rate of 172.58!

#2 Harbhajan Singh

The fastest half-century for Mumbai Indians has been scored by Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh has a batting average of only 13 in ODIs and T20Is, but in the IPL, he has contributed with many handy and also match-winning knocks down the order. His 26-ball 64 in IPL 2015 had broken a few batting records of the tournament.

He scored 50 in just 19 balls, which remains the fastest half-century for Mumbai Indians even today. Overall, in the 139 IPL matches played by the veteran, he has 129 wickets and 779 runs.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma took a hattrick in the 2009 edition of IPL

One of the best limited-overs batsmen, Rohit Sharma stunned one and all when he took a hat-trick against Mumbai Indians in 2009. The Mumbai team needed 43 runs from 26 balls when Sharma, who played for Deccan Charges, dismissed Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh in two successive balls, after which Duminy was sent back in the first ball of the 18th over.

Although he doesn’t bowl and take wickets consistently, the hat-trick had given him the moniker of an all-rounder. Overall, the off-spinner has 15 wickets in his 10-year IPL journey.