IPL 2020: These 5 players surprised everyone with big performance in league phase! Know them

IPL 2020: 5 cricketers who surprised all

Bengaluru, November 4: The IPL 2020 league phase has ended with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad getting into the play-offs. There have been some brilliant performances throughout the league phase that contained 56 matches.

But some of these stars performed, and often surprised us with the level of their efforts. MyKhel looks at five of them.

1. KL Rahul

Rahul had a wonderful start of the year as he scored more than 200 runs in both ODIs and T20Is against New Zealand. But the IPL 2020 posed a different challenge for him. Rahul had to lead Kings XI Punjab, do the duty of the premier batsman and keep wickets, which he did often. The Karnataka man did not show any nerves of a first time IPL captain and led the team with calmness even when they were on a losing streak. The captaincy sat on his shoulder lightly as indicated by that 670 runs from 14 matches with a hundred and five fifties.

2. Shikhar Dhawan

Dhawan has been a fine performer in the IPL over the years for different teams, one of three batsmen to have scored 5000 runs and 500 fours in the IPL. But the IPL 2020 gave him a different challenge, one that challenged his existence. Dhawan has gradually faded as India opener since 2019 World Cup as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Prithvi Shaw became the first-choice troika. But the left-hander came up with a fine display for Delhi Capitals that included two centuries in a row, a first-time occurrence in the IPL. Now, he has 525 runs with at least another two matches remaining in IPL 13. He averaged over 47 made runs at a strike-rate over 145. Gabbar is back!

3. Sandeep Sharma

You generally find his name among the also-rans. But the IPL 2020 showed a different Sandeep. The Sunrisers Hyderabad dabbled with Khaleel Ahmed as the lead pacer after Bhuvneshwar Kumar limped out of the tournament. But Sandeep soon took over and how! The right-arm pacer now has 13 wickets from 11 matches and often made an impact in the Power Plays, dismissing big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. His spells played a massive role in SRH entering the play-offs in the last minute.

4. Mohammed Shami

Shami is an expensive commodity in the white ball formats. He can take wickets but often goes for runs aplenty, especially in the death overs. As is his wont, Shami took wickets, 20 from 14 matches, and led the Kings XI Punjab attack admirably. But more significantly, the right-arm pacer showed a vast improvement in the late overs - remember that back-to-back Super Overs against Mumbai Indians. Shami nailed six yorkers in as many balls to defend 5 runs in the Super Over. Incredible turnaround!

5. Jasprit Bumrah

Once he returned from an injury, Bumrah looked a bit jaded struggling for wickets at home against Australia and away against New Zealand. The lean patch seemed to have spilled over to IPL 2020 too when he struggled to take wickets and leaked runs in the first couple of matches form Mumbai Indians. But the transformation came when Bumrah took the new ball and he did not look back since then. A confident and on the money Bumrah is a different beast and it showed in stats too - 23 wickets from 13 games and in a tight contest with Kagiso Rabada (25 wickets) for the Purple Cap.