5 ex-Indian cricketers who would have excelled in the IPL

#4 Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Krishnamachari Srikkanth

The swashbuckling former India opener, Srikkanth was an explosive batsman at the top of the order for India. In 146 ODIs for India, the right-handed batsman scored 4091 runs averaging 29.01 with 4 hundreds and 27 half-centuries under his belt. Srikkanth would have been a handy opener for any side in the shortest format of the game, owing to his abilities of demolishing the opposition with sheer disdain at the top. His career strike-rate of 71.75, though, doesn’t seem to do justice to the impact he had at the start of the innings, often demoralising the opposition bowlers. Though he was part of the Chennai Super Kings as the team’s ambassador, it would have been interesting to see the Chennai-born cricketer don the jersey for the southern lions as a cricketer.

#5 Vinod Kambli

Vinod Kambli

A swashbuckling left-hander from Mumbai, Vinod Kambli had a fine start to international cricket with stellar performances in Test cricket. He also played critical innings for India in white-ball cricket but lost his way after some uninspiring performances with the bat. Kambli played 17 Test matches for India, aggregating 1084 runs with an average of 54.20 with 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries. Of the 4 centuries he scored in Test cricket, two were double hundreds including a career best of 227 runs. In ODI cricket, he played 104 games for the country amassing 2477 runs with 2 centuries and 14 half-centuries. The left-handed batsman possessed a tremendous stroke-making ability and played some gritty knocks for his side.

Despite not being too comfortable against the short-pitched stuff, Kambli would have fancied his chances had IPL been part of Indian cricket during his playing days as he surely was an entertainer.