They came, they saw, they conquered: Foreign stars continue lighting up each IPL season with their heroics

The other night when the Delhi Daredevils (DD) needed 15 to win off the last over in their encounter against the Gujarat Lions (GL), with a marauding Chris Morris on strike and looking as if he would need just three legal deliveries to finish things off, the Lions skipper Suresh Raina had no hesitation in tossing the ball up to Dwayne Bravo to bowl it.

His faith was rewarded as Bravo stopped Morris in his tracks to help the Lions register a 1-run victory. Suresh Raina knew that in a tense IPL nail biter, there was no one more calm and IPL-experienced than his franchise teammate from the Caribbean. Yes, even in Indian conditions!

Bravo is one of only seven ‘IPL expats’, if you so choose to call them, who have been making the scorching Indian summer their home for more than two months every year. And this has been happening for the last nine IPL seasons!

Bravo’s fellow traveller for all these nine trips from the exotic Caribbean islands, has been the world’s most explosive T20 opener, Chris Gayle. Bravo has plied his IPL trade beginning with the Mumbai Indians (MI), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and now GL. And Gayle started with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in season one before switching to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2011, where he has stayed ever since.

Both have been top performers, not only for their respective teams but also in the world’s richest cricket league.

Bravo was the IPL’s leading all-rounder before the start of this season and is looking good to keep that title intact at the end of this season as well. With the bat, ball, fielding and a typically carefree and passionate Caribbean attitude, the West Indian has been an asset to Brand IPL.

The imposing figure of Gayle belies a prolific entertainer when on song. The fact that he has the most centuries (five) and sixes (230) in the league, which is what T20 cricket is all about frankly, to substantially add to the entertainment quotient, probably makes him the biggest selling of IPL brands – not only amongst the seven cricketers in focus here, but in the overall context of Brand IPL.

A darling of the masses due to his ability to crush attacks singlehandedly with audacious and uninhibited strokeplay, Gayle has the rare ability to attract even the otherwise ‘indifferent to cricket’ types to the ground.

The South African connect

AB de Villiers is leading the South African charge

However, the country with the most number of longest serving ‘IPL expats’ is South Africa. Three of them – the mercurial AB de Villiers, pace great Dale Steyn and T20 specialist all-rounder Albie Morkel – have been making the annual trip to India every year since the IPL began in 2008.

And their IPL stats are impressive as well. ABD, as the genius wicket-keeper batsman is referred to, has thus far endeared himself to India’s cricket crazy fans by not only amassing 2,736 IPL runs at a strike rate of 146.31, but by also gifting them some of the most entertaining knocks in the league – like the 59-ball 133 he smashed last year.

Steyn, on the other hand, has notched up 92 scalps in 90 matches at an impressive economy and strike rate of 6.72 and 22.36 respectively. This despite the fact that T20 is not his favourite format of the game and he is not generally considered an IPL success by people in the know.

Albie Morkel has also been doing yeoman service for his respective franchises by being amongst the top five all-rounders of the league till date.

Aussie grit in the IPL

Watson pulled off a brilliant catch in the IPL

A couple of typically gritty Aussies, with completely different cricketing styles, complete the group of Magnificent Seven who have not missed a single edition of the IPL. Shane Watson has been one of the shining lights of the IPL, accumulating runs and wickets characteristically under the radar. His highly effective and at times match-winning performances year after year have seen him land two man-of-the-tournament awards thus far. He is the only IPL player with this distinction.

Shaun Marsh, the batting mainstay of Kings XI Punjab, is the other Aussie in this mix. And unlike his stints with his national side, he has been amazingly consistent in the IPL as his overall average of 41.73, which is among the all-time top five IPL batting averages, attests. An orange cap, the award given to a player with most runs in a single edition, won in the inaugural edition of the IPL sits as the crown jewel of his IPL career.

It was initially thought that the IPL was all about Indian players – both reigning and fading icons as well as young upcoming talent. However, these wonderful foreign cricketers, with their total commitment and dedication towards the league, have ensured that the league is a truly global celebration of cricket.

Their rich contributions to the IPL over the years have gone a long way in building and sustaining Brand IPL as the first globally recognised sporting brand to come out of India. We look forward to many more years of Cricketainment from them!