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Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  IPL: channelling the champion spirit
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IPL: channelling the champion spirit

Do players who do well in the World Twenty20 carry their form into the Indian Premier League?

Photo: Ashok Nath Dey/Hindustan TimesPremium
Photo: Ashok Nath Dey/Hindustan Times

NEW DELHI :

When Carlos Brathwaite joined his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, the Delhi Daredevils, for the ongoing 2016 season, the team staff must have broken into a jig to celebrate his arrival at the hotel. Just two days earlier, the 27-year-old had displayed his muscle power in Kolkata and smacked England’s Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to win the World Twenty20 (T20) for the West Indies in an astonishing last-over turnaround.

In February, when they had bought him for 4.2 crore in the players’ auction, the Delhi Daredevils were banking on him replicating the big-hitting prowess he had displayed in the 2015 Caribbean Premier League, held last May. Now they will be hoping that Brathwaite can bring some of the West Indies’ “Champion" magic to their team as well.

2014

World T20 winners: Sri Lanka

Runners-up: India

IPL winner: Kolkata Knight Riders

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) did not feature a single player from either the Sri Lankan or Indian teams that had played the World T20 final.

Even so, players from both teams had a significant impact on the IPL.

Lasith Malinga, who had Yuvraj Singh in all kinds of trouble in the World T20 final in Dhaka, Bangladesh, picked up 16 wickets in 10 matches and helped Mumbai Indians qualify for the knockouts after an inspired run. R. Ashwin, who picked up 11 wickets for India in the World T20, similarly helped the now suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) reach the knockouts, with 16 wickets in as many matches.

The batsmen had a more mixed record. Virat Kohli had topped the scoring charts for India at the World T20, with 319 runs in six matches. He scored 359 runs in 14 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), failing to get them past the group stage.

Rohit Sharma, who had played a crucial role in India’s run to the World T20 final, continued his fine form in the IPL, scoring 390 runs in 15 matches for the Mumbai Indians, who finished fourth in the league.

Suresh Raina was a failure for India in the World T20, with 63 runs in six matches, but completely turned his form around for the IPL, in which he scored a colossal 523 runs in 16 matches for the CSK.

The player who made the biggest impact on the IPL had not even been considered for the Indian team for the World T20: Robin Uthappa won the tournament for KKR with his massive haul of 660 runs in 16 matches, the most runs scored by any batsman in that season. He was picked for the Indian T20 team’s next series.

This was also the year when Australia’s Glenn Maxwell took the World T20 by storm. While Australia failed to get past the group stage, Maxwell hit 12 sixes in four matches. Then he moved on to the Kings XI Punjab IPL team. Only this time, he took it a couple of notches higher. He hit 36 sixes in 16 matches, and 48 fours, amassing 552 runs to finish as the third-highest scorer of the season. It wasn’t enough to win the title, though, as Kings XI Punjab lost to KKR in the final.

2012-13

World T20 winners: West Indies

Runners-up: Sri Lanka

IPL winners: Mumbai Indians

The 2012 World T20 was played in Sri Lanka from September-October, but many of the players who did well retained their form in the 2013 IPL. At the forefront was Chris Gayle, who was vital in West Indies’ World T20 triumph, and scored 708 runs in 16 matches for RCB in the 2013 IPL, hitting an incredible 51 sixes along the way. But he still could not take his team to the knockout round.

Another star performer for West Indies in the World T20 was Sunil Narine, who had made his name as a mystery bowler—he had made his debut for the West Indies late in 2011 and left opponents puzzled by his superbly disguised variations. He picked up nine wickets in seven matches during the World T20, including a match-winning 3 for 9 in the final. He continued that form into the next year’s IPL, taking 22 wickets in 16 matches for KKR. Like Gayle, though, he could not take his team past the group stage.

But Dwayne Bravo (32 wickets in 18 matches) and Kieron Pollard did well for their franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, respectively. These two teams met in the final, and while Bravo won the Purple Cap for most wickets in that IPL season, Pollard shone on the day of the final with 60 not out off 32 balls—taking Mumbai to their first IPL triumph in six attempts.

The Sri Lankan players did not have much of an impact on the 2013 IPL despite their performances in the preceding World T20. The best performer was Lasith Malinga, who spearheaded the Mumbai Indians’ attack, getting 20 wickets. Mahela Jayawardene, who had finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the World T20, with 243 runs in seven matches, managed 331 runs in 15 matches for the Delhi Daredevils, who finished last out of nine teams.

2007-08

2007 World T20 winner: India

Runners-up: Pakistan

2008 IPL winner: Rajasthan Royals

In 2009 and 2010, the IPL was held before the World T20 events in England and the West Indies, respectively, so we need to step back further, to when it all began—the inaugural season of the IPL, in 2008, and the first World T20, in 2007. Back to the high-voltage final between Pakistan and India, the rise of M.S. Dhoni and the only IPL season in which players from Pakistan featured.

Because T20 cricket was still in its infancy then, and playing opportunities were few and far between, the World T20 had its most direct impact on the IPL in this inaugural year.

This impact is best exemplified by Dhoni, who so brilliantly led India to a World T20 triumph. This marked the beginning of the Dhoni era, in which he created a stellar captaincy record in all formats of the game. Dhoni could not win the IPL for CSK, losing in the final to the workings of another brilliant cricketing mind, Shane Warne of the now suspended Rajasthan Royals franchise. But there is no statistic that can measure Dhoni’s contribution to CSK’s success in the IPL—he helped them qualify for the knockouts of every IPL season until 2015 and led them to two tournament wins, in 2010 and 2011.

Other players from the World T20-winning Indian team did superbly in the IPL as well: Yusuf Pathan played an important role in the Rajasthan Royals’ campaign, scoring 435 runs in 16 matches. Virender Sehwag (406 runs, 14 matches) and Gautam Gambhir (534 runs, 14 matches) were in devastating form for the Delhi Daredevils, who reached the semi-finals of the IPL. Gambhir was also the second-highest run-getter in the World T20.

The Pakistanis did even better. Their bowlers ruled the inaugural IPL, with Sohail Tanvir leading the way with 22 wickets in 11 matches, which helped Rajasthan Royals lift the trophy. He finished as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker. Umar Gul, who was the top wicket-taker in the World T20 (13 from seven matches), did well for KKR too, with 12 wickets from six matches.

This year, the World T20-winning West Indies players are spread out evenly among the IPL teams, but each team will be hoping that their man is carrying the spark from that win.

RCB have always banked on the explosive Chris Gayle, but have never won a title. They also have Virat Kohli, Man of the Series in the recent World T20, in their side. Will this be their season? Going by the way Kohli and A.B. de Villiers paired up on Tuesday against Sunrisers Hyderabad, betting against RCB will be risky.

But then there’s always Brathwaite waiting to turn things around at the last moment.

“I am privileged enough to come into this team as a World Cup winner," he said. “Now, it is about adapting all the time to make sure that the Daredevils come out on top in each and every game."

Chetan Narula is the author of Skipper: A Definitive Account of India’s Greatest Captains.

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Published: 13 Apr 2016, 09:22 PM IST
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