IPL 2019: 3 Veterans who have performed well this year

The 12th edition of the IPL is nearly halfway through, and this season, one has witnessed impressive bowling performances from youngsters such as Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Gopal, Kagiso Rabada, Alzarri Joseph and Sam Curran. In the batting department, players like Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Prithvi Shaw, and Mayank Agarwal have been impressive.

Apart from the eye-catching performances of the youngsters and established stars, there have been a few veterans too who have made their presence felt in this year’s IPL with their exemplary accomplishments which defy their age. Some of those veterans have either retired from International cricket or are is at the verge of retirement.

In this article, let us browse through the performances of 3 such veterans in IPL 2019.

# 3. Kieron Pollard(MI)

Kieron Pollard - Always the match winner for MI (Image Courtesy: IPL T20.com/BCCI)

Innings – 5, Not out – 2, Runs – 96, Avg – 32, SR – 157

Kieron Pollard hasn’t scored too many runs in this year’s IPL, but he has made two match-winning contributions for Mumbai.

In the match against the Chennai Super Kings, Pollard walked in to bat in the 19th over of the innings, with MI struggling at 125 for 6. CSK were in total control of the match up to that point. But in the next 2 overs, Pollard and Hardik Pandya added 45 runs which proved to be the turning point of the match.

Pollard scored 17 off just 7 balls with two huge sixes. Again while on the field, Pollard took a one-handed blinder on the point boundary to dismiss Suresh Raina. The ball seemed to have gone over Pollard’s head for a six before he plucked it out of thin air. With that catch and that quickfire knock, he made a crucial contribution to Mumbai’s win.

In the next match against the Sun Risers Hyderabad, MI were precariously placed at 63 for 4 in the 12th over when Krunal Pandya got out. Pollard struggled to reach 8 off 12 balls when Rashid Khan dropped him off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. That was the change in fortune Pollard was looking for.

The 31-year-old smashed Siddarth Kaul for 3 sixes in the 19th over. In the last over of the innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was cracked for 2 fours and one six. Pollard finished with 46 off 26 balls. His crucial innings enabled Mumbai to reach a respectable score of 136.

Debutant Alzarri Joseph knocked off SRH for 96, with a record-breaking bowling performance of 6 for 12. Pollard has made a huge contribution to Mumbai’s 2 of the 3 wins this season so far.

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# 2. Harbhajan Singh(CSK)

Harbhajan Singh - The ever-reliable economical bowler (Image Courtesy: IPL T 20.com/BCCI)

Overs bowled – 16, Wickets taken - 7, Avg – 11.71, SR – 13.71 Economy – 5.13

Harbhajan Singh has been a revelation in IPL 2019. The slow and low wicket at Chepauk has suited Harbhajan’s style of bowling.

Bhajji got the very first wicket to fall in this year’s IPL. And what a wicket it was. Virat Kohli pulled the tournament’s 21st ball bowled by Harbhajan straight into the hands of Ravindra Jadeja at deep mid-wicket.

In the next over, Moeen Ali gave Harbhajan a dolly return catch for his second wicket. Sensing Harbhajan’s bowling form, Dhoni decided to bowl him out. In his last over, the 38-year-old got the important wicket of AB de Villiers to finish with excellent figures of 3 for 20. He was adjudged the Player of the Match in this year’s season opener.

In the match against the Kings XI Punjab, Harbhajan got rid of Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal in his very first over, which was a double wicket maiden. He had match figures of 4-1-17-2 against KXIP. Harbhajan got his second Man of the Match award in that match.

In the game against KKR last night, Harbhajan deceived Sunil Narine with a slower delivery wide outside the off-stump which he couldn’t resist playing in the air. Harbhajan came back to take the wicket of Piyush Chawla, who ran past Harbhajan’s slower delivery to be stumped by Dhoni.

With 7 wickets to his name, Harbhajan is ranked 7th in this year’s highest wicket-takers list.

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1. Imran Tahir(CSK)

Imran Tahir - The leg-spinner with the aggression of a fast bowler(Image Courtesy: IPL T20.com/BCCI)

Overs bowled – 22, Wickets taken - 9, Avg – 13.11, SR – 14.67 Economy – 5.36

Imran Tahir is second in the list of highest wicket-takers in IPL 2019, with 9 wickets to his name. More than the number of wickets, it is the spirit that the South African has shown on the field which has stood out. His fighting qualities in confronting challenges against the best in the business and the celebrations thereafter are a treat to watch.

In the first match of this year’s IPL, while Harbhajan finished off the RCB top order, Tahir polished off the tail with figures of 3 for 9.

Tahir always relishes the challenge of bowling to top-order batsmen, and in the next 3 matches, he got the wickets of Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Steve Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Yuvraj Singh and Shubman Gill. He would have had Andre Russell too but for a dropped catch by Harbhajan.

The only match where Tahir went wicketless was in the game against KXIP. But in that match, bowling the 15th and 17th over of the innings, Tahir gave away a mere 10 runs to keep the target beyond Punjab’s reach.

Among the top 10 wicket takers in this year’s IPL, Imran Tahir (5.36) and Harbhajan (5.13) have the best economy rates. They along with Kieron Pollard have proved beyond any doubt that there is no substitute for experience, and age is just a number.

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