IPL 2021: Best XI Of The Players Who Warmed Bench Entire Season
Published - 16 Oct 2021, 07:09 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:59 AM
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The Chennai Super Kings reigned supreme again as they clinched their fourth IPL title, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final on Friday in Dubai by 27 runs.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis were instrumental in their success throughout the season with the latter playing a Man of the Match knock in the final. RCB’s Harshal Patel, who bagged 32 wickets, was named the Player of the Tournament.
Players like Venkatesh Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravi Bishnoi, had impressive years as they banked on their opportunities. However, there were many players, including few big names, who went through the season without a single appearance.
IPL 2021: Best XI Of The Players Who Warmed Bench Entire Season
Narayan Jagadeesan
With both Suresh Raina returning and Moeen Ali added in the middle-order, and later Robin Uthappa replacing Raina, the 25-year-old Jagadeesan didn’t find a place in the eleven at all this season. He will, though, fetch good attention in the auction and could be one of the bankable players in the coming years for any IPL franchise.
Cheteshwar Pujara
Bought for Rs 50 lakh at the IPL 2021 auction, Cheteshwar Pujara also couldn’t find a place in CSK’s settled eleven. Uthappa was chosen to replace Raina when the left-hander got injured, and he justified the franchise’s trust with two blazing knocks in the playoffs.
India’s Test specialist, Cheteshwar Pujara’s last IPL game still remains way back in 2014 when he was with Punjab, but he’d be happy to claim his maiden IPL trophy with CSK.
Karun Nair (C)
Karun Nair was bought for Rs 50 lakh by Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite his experience of 73 IPL matches, and when KKR were on bad form during the India leg, Nair was still not called upon in the eleven by the KKR management.
When the tournament shifted to UAE, Venkatesh Iyer was trusted to open, with Nitish Rana, and Rahul Tripathi continuing in the middle-order. The side clicked and they reached the final with fewer changes.
Nair, India’s only second man to score a Test triple century, has played just 5 matches in the last two seasons with Punjab; he scored 21 runs in those 5 games.
Sam Billings (wk)
Sam Billings is one of the few names which was surprisingly omitted by Ricky Ponting at Delhi Capitals this season. With Shreyas Iyer injured in the first half of the tournament, DC opted for Steve Smith over the Englishman.
Billings, who was bought for Rs 2 crore by DC, was with CSK in 2018 and 2019. The right-hander has been named in England’s T20 World Cup squad, as a middle-order batter and wicket-keeper backup to Jos Buttler.
Ben Cutting
Ben Cutting was bought for Rs 75 lakh by KKR. The Australian all-rounder was roped in as a backup for Andre Russell. However, when Russell got injured in the UAE leg, KKR opted to include Shakib Al Hasan, another experienced all-rounder, in the eleven considering the slow, turning pitches in the UAE.
Shakib did well in the opportunities he was given with the ball especially and in the Eliminator versus RCB with the bat as well. Cutting last played in the IPL in 2019, when he was with Mumbai Indians. With his hard-hitting ability with the bat and seam-bowling offering, he is likely to get a buyer at the next auction.
Gurkeerat Singh Mann
Gurkeerat Singh Mann was once a key player for Punjab and even went to represent India in 3 ODIs. However, he hasn’t been able to find a regular place in the eleven in the IPL. After leaving Punjab in 2017, he was at Delhi for one season, and then shifted to Bangalore for 2019 and 2020.
However, he has featured in 11 IPL games since 2018 and none this season, when he was at KKR as Eoin Morgan and Brendon McCullum didn’t make many changes in their eleven. Mann has scored 511 runs in 41 IPL matches in his career.
Krishnappa Gowtham
Krishnappa Gowtham was the big money pick for CSK, bought for Rs 9.25 crore, but the off-spinning all-rounder couldn’t find a place in MS Dhoni’s eleven. Nonetheless, he takes home a title-winner tag and plenty of experience and learnings.
Gowtham, who attained fame with Rajasthan in 2018, had featured in just 2 matches last season for Punjab. He has a batting strike rate of 169 in his 24-match IPL career so far, and will remain a sought after cricketer at the upcoming auction.
Mitchell Santner
Mitchell Santner has been with CSK since 2018. He has played 6 matches in the last two seasons, and was benched for the entire season this year. With the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, and Moeen Ali, the Kiwi spin bowling all-rounder wasn’t given a look.
He will, though, lead New Zealand’s spin attack in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Oman and UAE.
Karn Sharma
Karn Sharma now has four IPL titles to his name – with SRH in 2016, with MI in 2017, and with CSK in 2018 and 2021. The leggie, though, didn’t feature at all this season.
He has played in 12 matches for CSK in the three previous seasons, picking up 10 wickets while leaking runs at 9.16. He will be presented in the forthcoming auction and with his experience of 68 IPL games, he is likely to find a buyer.
Umesh Yadav
Yadav had a poor last season with RCB, when he played just 2 matches in which he went wicketless and leaked at 11.86. He will enter the mega auction with an experience of 121 IPL matches, having taken 119 wickets, and as an established international pacer.
Dushmantha Chameera
Dushmantha Chameera was one of the replacement players roped in by RCB ahead of the second leg of the IPL 2021. He had been impressive earlier in the year with Sri Lanka, taking 15 wickets in 12 T20Is, at a brilliant economy of 6.51.
RCB did try out the likes of Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian, and George Garton, but they failed to make an impact in the UAE conditions. One can only wonder had they played Chameera, things could have been better in the Eliminator loss.
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