OPINION
Follow UsThe 2021 season of the Indian Premier League was going in its full pomp before coming to an abrupt halt due to Covid-19 positive cases inside the bio-bubble. In the 29 games played this season, some players rose above others to become a force in their own sweet way. Following is Cricket.com’s IPL XI of the Year from the season conducted thus far:
Prithvi Shaw
Having lost his place in the Delhi Capitals’ XI last season, Shaw roared his way back into Cricket.com’s halfway mark team of the season. Ironing out the flaws in his technique, Shaw was a joy to watch this season with his ‘see the ball, hit the ball’ approach.
Shaw stunned Chennai in his first outing of the season - scoring 72 off 38 balls. He notched up two more fifties - 53 off 39 balls on a tough pitch against Hyderabad where he started the innings with three consecutive boundaries and an 82 off 41 balls against Kolkata, where he began with six consecutive boundaries, thus becoming the second batsman to score six fours in an over in the IPL history. Overall, Shaw’s strike-rate of 166.5 is the highest by any opener and the highest for any batsman with over 200 runs in the season.
Shikhar Dhawan
Easily the best opener of the season, even beyond numbers. With 380 runs in his kitty, Shikhar Dhawan is nearly 50 runs ahead of any other batsman to acquire the Orange Cap at the mid-season suspension of IPL 2021.
Dhawan carried on from where he left the last season, having scored 618 runs. He started in the most ballistic fashion, turning the Chennai bowling attack to dust with a match-winning 85 off 54 balls. Two games later, he almost notched up his third T20 hundred, when he amassed 92 off 49 balls against Punjab in winning cause.
What really stood about Dhawan was his willingness to contribute even when he was not at the forefront of things. On occasions when his naturally more aggressive opening partner - Shaw - exploded, he was happy to take the backseat. He also held the fort when the going got tough. Dhawan guided Delhi through a tricky run chase against Mumbai with his 45 off 42 balls.
Dhawan’s match awareness mixed with Shaw’s blatant aggression enabled Delhi to make the most efficient use of the Powerplay. Delhi had a strike-rate of 147.9 in the first six overs, the highest by a decent margin. The average of 64 between Shaw and Dhawan is the highest for any opening duo this season. Yes, Faf du Plessis was superb but we won’t separate this opening pair in our team of the season.
Sanju Samson
For a while, it appeared as if it would be the same old story with Sanju Samson - one admirable knock but nothing to write about afterwards. After a magnificent 119 off 63 balls against Punjab Kings (albeit in a losing cause), Samson produced only 26 runs in the subsequent three innings.
However, the Rajasthan Royals’ skipper rectified his mistakes this season to get back amongst runs. The effort was visible in his unbeaten 42 off 41 balls to steer Rajasthan’s chase against Kolkata. He followed it up with a couple of more 40+ scores.
Overall, Samson made 277 runs, averaging 46 at a healthy strike-rate of 145.8, more than perfect for a number three batsman in T20 cricket.
Glenn Maxwell
After a poor last season, Glenn Maxwell turned his fortunes around this time in Bangalore’s colors, scoring 223 runs at an average of 37.2.
Acting as the link between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and given the license to do what he does the best in format, Maxwell was a breath of fresh air in Bangalore’s middle-overs with the bat. He negated spin expertly, that too on the challenging decks of Chepauk with knocks of 39 off 28, 59 off 41 and 78 off 49. His tally of 142 runs against spin is the second-highest in the tournament and came at a strike-rate of 161.4.
Maxwell did not bowl in the season but provided off-spin variety to the bowling attack.
AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers has made a habit of making it to the IPL XI of the Year just as he has made a habit of winning matches for Bangalore. He came to this season with no cricket since the last edition of the tournament. Yet, he was effortless in the season opener, scoring 48 off 27 coming at the crux of the run chase.
Two matches later, he mauled an unbeaten 76 off 34 balls against Kolkata, helping Bangalore to notch up at least 20 runs over the par score. Add his 75 not out off 42 balls against Delhi as de Villiers won Bangalore three out of the six games he batted in. This is a terrific record for someone batting at number five. De Villiers once again nailed the finisher’s role for Bangalore.
Kieron Pollard
Kieron Pollard arguably played the innings of the tournament when he smashed Chennai for an unbeaten 87 off only 34 balls. The knock single-handedly pulled off the second highest successful chase in IPL history - 218.
Prior to that, Pollard had a slow start to the tournament with the bat. Struggling to cope with the slowness of the Chennai track, Pollard managed only 12 runs from the first two games. In the third, however, he scored a handy 35 not out which gave Mumbai enough runs to pip Hyderabad. He also bowled two crucial overs for only 10 runs in a low-scoring game.
That has been Pollard’s legacy in this season. Filling up the extra bowler’s role, Pollard had done decently, conceding only at an economy of only 7.5 in his 7 overs. He also picked three wickets, two of which came in the match against Chennai, before his storm with the bat. Pollard takes the batting all-rounder’s slot in this team. He is also the captain of this side, with Samson the only full-time captain this year to make it to the XI.
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja put up one of the most grand all-rounder’s performances in IPL history when he scored 62 not out off 28 balls against Bangalore before picking 3/13 with the ball and affecting a run out. His knock included a record-levelling 37 runs off the last over against Harshal Patel. Overall, Jadeja was dismissed only once in six innings and had a strike-rate of 161.7. With the ball, he was lethal in helpful conditions and was used judiciously by MS Dhoni. Alongside his 3/13 against Bangalore, he picked 2/28 against Rajasthan. Jadeja is the perfect spin bowling all-rounder in this unit.
Chris Morris
Signed at INR 16.25 crore, the biggest amount given to a player in the IPL auction history, Chris Morris justified the big paycheque with his all-round show.
With his primary skill, Morris picked 14 wickets, the joint second-most. Nine of these wickets came at the death, while conceding at an economy of 9.5 runs per over. His 4/23 against Kolkata included the crucial scalps of Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell and Pat Cummins. Either bowling first or second, Morris was always amongst the wickets. With the bat, Morris’ 36 not out off 18 balls against Delhi got Rajasthan off the mark on the points table.
Avesh Khan
Probably the find of the season. Avesh Khan has been around for a while but never has he left the kind of impression that he did in the 2021 IPL season. At first, it was surprising to see him getting a headstart over bowlers like Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav in the Delhi camp but his 14 wickets in eight games justified why the management went ahead with him.
Moreover, Avesh bowled with an economy of only 7.7. His economy at the death was only 9.2, a run less than the average death over economy of 10.2 runs per over in the tournament. Avesh showed a thinking head, mixing his length and pace accurately. He had at least one wicket in each of his eight games, including 3/32 against Rajasthan and 3/34 against Hyderabad. His brilliant bowling performance has also put him in the radar for an India call-up. Avesh, in fact, will be flying to England as a standby for the Indian Test team.
Rahul Chahar
With 11 wickets in seven games, Rahul Chahar turned out to be the most impactful spinner in the tournament. He announced himself in Mumbai’s second game where he spun his team to victory with 4/27 against Kolkata. He laid a similar impact in the next game - picking 3/19 against Hyderabad. Both these spells staged come-from-behind wins for Mumbai while defending a low total.
It was a strange year where other wrist-spinners were struggling. Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan didn’t lay the same impact they are known for. But Chahar can keep his head high with several match-winning performances for his team.
Jasprit Bumrah
In terms of wickets, Jasprit Bumrah had only six scalps to his name in seven matches. He suffered his most expensive bowling spell going for 1/56 against Chennai. But in terms of impact, he was up there, especially with an economy of only 7.9 runs per over at the death.
Bumrah twice helped Mumbai to close out games at the death with his two overs - against Kolkata and Hyderabad. Against Rajasthan, he conceded only 15 runs in his four overs on a good batting wicket that made the lasting difference in the match. These performances helped Bumrah pip Mohammed Siraj and the Purple Cap holder, Harshal Patel in the prime seamer’s role.
