IPL: 3 players who made their debut in a playoff game

Franchises usually do not tinker with their lineup so late in the season, but, injuries and poor form have forced them to make changes in the playoff games.

Some teams have deliberately used this ploy to catch the opponents off guard by introducing new players in the important knockout games.

These risks can go either way and teams are willing to take it in desperate times. One such rare instances happened in an IPL 2018 playoff game.

On that note, let’s take a look at the three players in IPL history who made their debut in a playoff game

#1 Khaleel Ahmed

Khaleel Ahmed becomes only the third player in the history of Indian Premier League to make his debut in a playoff game. The left-arm pacer from Rajasthan was bought for a huge sum of Rs. 3 crores in the 2018 auction by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Though he did not play any part in the league stages of the competition, he was called into action by Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday when they played Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier.

The 20-year-old is one of the fastest bowlers in the Indian domestic circuit right now and has done exceedingly well for Rajasthan in the 2017/18 season. He finished as the second highest wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

#2 Nayan Doshi

Nayan Doshi inaction for Surrey

Nayan Doshi has played four IPL games in his career and the first of those games came in 2010. Not used in the group stages, the left-arm spinner made his IPL debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Deccan Chargers in the third-place play-off game in 2010.

RCB won the game as Nayan Doshi performed well with the ball. He finished the game with figures of 4-0-17-1. Rajasthan Royals bought him in the 2011 auction and he made 3 appearances for them.

Doshi has represented Saurashtra and Surrey in first-class cricket and has played 52 T20 games in his career and picked up 68 wickets at an economy rate of 6.80.

#3 Sunny Gupta

Sunny Gupta inaction for Jharkhand

Sunny Gupta is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler who plays for Jharkhand in first-class cricket.

The 29-year-old made his debut for Delhi Daredevils in 2012 qualifier two. His debut IPL game ended in a huge disaster as Delhi Daredevils lost the game and were eliminated from the competition.

Gupta finished with figures of 3-0-47-0 and was taken for a lot of runs by the Chennai Super Kings batsmen, especially Murali Vijay. To date, it remains the only game he played in the Indian Premier League.