IPL: Five Overseas Stars Loved by Their Home Crowd

Gone are the days when only Indian IPL players were cheered and supported by the home crowd. The IPL has brought so much diversity that the foreign players are now equally admired and their number of fans have increased exponentially since then. The following list shows the top players to change the trend.

---

#5 David Warner (Hyderabad)

SRH retained him for 12 crores INR

After being appointed as the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2015, Warner ended the season as the tournament's leading run scorer, rewarding him with the orange cap. In 2016, he led his team to its first championship, scoring 69 runs off 38 balls in the final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, and followed it with another orange cap to his name in 2017. This success and consistency gave him a special place in Hyderabad fans' hearts.

#4 Glenn Maxwell (Punjab)

He was named the captain of KXIP in the last season

A hard hitter of the ball, Maxwell was recruited by KXIP in the IPL Player Auction 2014 and has since made vital contributions to the team. The Australian was integral to the team's success when they made it to the final in 2014. During that season, the Punjab crowd was so fascinated by him that they started displaying placards with his name written as "Glenndeep Singh Maxwell" and posters with him wearing the Punjabi turban.

#3 AB de Villiers (Bengaluru)

AB de Villiers is set to play his eighth season for RCB

A delightfully brutal batsman, a more than decent wicket-keeper and an agile fielder that can put an acrobat to shame – there are very few things that AB de Villiers cannot do on a cricket field. Bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL Player Auction 2011, he was able to draw crowds' attention to his 360 degree batting style. The support of Indian fans was quite evident in 2015, when they cheered for him even when he scored a One Day International hundred against India.

#2 Matthew Hayden (Chennai)

Hayden played his last IPL game in 2010

The former Australian opener played for the Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural IPL in April 2008, contracted for $375,000. Hayden became one of the foremost players in the league, and in 2009 won the Orange Cap as the season's highest run-scorer, with 572. His aggressive batting style and contribution to his team's success made him very popular amongst the Chennai crowd. In addition to that, he soon announced his intention to use the Mongoose Cricket Bat, a bat specially tailored to the needs of T20 cricket during the 2010 IPL, which made the tall man trendy.

#1 Chris Gayle (Bengaluru)

He might be playing for a different franchise this season

The Jamaican took the IPL standards to another level and is known to be the most destructive and greatest T20 batsman in the history of the game. Gayle has set records for the fastest century reached in any format of cricket, the highest individual score in a T20 match, and the most sixes scored in a single innings in the IPL. It was all witnessed in his 2013 innings of 175 runs that came off just 66 balls and made him a Bangalore icon.