IPL 2017: 5 unsung heroes from the competition

After 46 days of intense action, the Indian Premier League came to a close on Sunday with the Mumbai Indians winning a thriller of a game against the Rising Pune Supergiant at Hyderabad.

We now look back at 5 such players from the 2017 edition, who performed very well for their franchise, but did not get spoken about as much as they deserved.

5.Nathan-Coulter-Nile

The Australian speedster was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL Auctions earlier this year and proved to be an excellent selection for the Gautam Gambhir-led side. Coulter-Nile, who was part of the Delhi setup last year, took 15 wickets in 8 matches for the Knight Riders at an economy rate of 8.04.

His best performance in the competition came in the Eliminator against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, when he took 3 for 20 in his 4 overs to win the Player of the match award and also help the Knight Riders win the game.

There is uncertainty over whether players can be retained in the upcoming edition of the competition. If that does turn out to be the case, maybe Coulter-Nile could be in the reckoning for a retention.

4.Jaydev Unadkat

With the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan and others hogging the limelight, one man went about his business almost unknowingly. Jaydev Unadkat may have set the grass on fire on a couple of occasions in red-ball cricket, but in the IPL, he has barely had any memorable experience to look back upon.

The 2017 IPL season though turned things around for him dramatically. Picked in the side at the expense of Ashok Dinda, who was proving to be far too expensive for the Steven Smith-led side, the Saurashtra bowler picked up 24 wickets to finish as the second highest wicket-taker in the competition.

He was also only one of the three bowlers in the IPL to take a hat-trick and will hope to carry the performance in this edition into the upcoming domestic season as well.

3.Axar Patel

The Kings XI Punjab all-rounder, for whom the IPL proved to be the foundation for a maiden call-up to the Indian team in 2014, had yet another good year with both bat and ball for the franchise.

In the 14 matches that he played for the franchise, the Gujarat cricketer picked up 15 scalps at an acceptable economy of 7.54 and also contributed 224 runs at a strike-rate of 140.

Even as the 2014 runners-up failed to make it to the Playoff stage of the competition, Patel once proved to be a bright spot for the side and as a result of his consistency could earn himself a retention for next season as well.

2.Parthiv Patel

While the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and others took the limelight for the Mumbai Indians, Parthiv Patel went about his business in his own quiet manner. The Gujarat wicket-keeper scored 295 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of 134 and gave the side good starts at the top of the order.

The left-hander has often gone unnoticed in the larger scheme of things, but when observed closely, his contributions have been as important as the others in the batting line-up.

1.Shikhar Dhawan

The butt of several jokes on several occasions, Shikhar Dhawan has reason to give it back to his critics courtesy his performance in this year’s IPL. The Delhi left-hander amassed 479 runs in 14 matches at a strike-rate of 127 to finish as the 3^rd highest run-getter in the competition.

The major issue with Dhawan for a large part of his career has been his inability to get runs as consistently as everyone wants him to get and hopefully, in the upcoming Champions Trophy, he can repeat the exploits from the 2013 edition.