XtraTime Web Desk: Indian Premier League season 11 has ended on a high note last night as Chennai Super Kings won their third title as they beat SunRisers Hyderabad comprehensively by 8 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. As the 11th season of the cash-rich league comes to an end, we will discuss about five talking points of this season.
CSK winning the trophy after serving two years ban: When Chennai Super Kings again formed their squad in this year’s auction after serving two years ban many had started saying that the team is nothing but an old age home as the average age of the squad was above 30. But they have proved everyone wrong by winning the IPL for the third time and most importantly all the aged players performed brilliantly this season.
Dinesh Karthik’s first season in KKR as captain: With the departure of Gautam Gambhir after seven long years Kolkata Knight Riders management handed the mantle to Dinesh Karthik with a newly formed squad. Karthik not only performed with his bat while batting, but also led the side to the playoffs of the cash rich league. After the auction many had started saying that with an inexperienced squad they won’t reach in the playoffs but Dinesh Karthik led the team with young guns and made the fans and the franchise proud.
Gautam Gambhir stepped down as Delhi Daredevils captain: Veteran Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir made a return to his home franchise Delhi Daredevils from KKR as he wanted to play for them. But he failed miserably in this season as playing 6 matches the star opener only scored 85 runs. After this dismal show he stepped down as captain and unfortunately after that the DD management didn’t give him another chance to play in this season.
The Afghan power: Only three players were the part of this season’s Indian Premier League. They were Rashid Khan, Mujeeb and Mohammad Nabi. Among them young leg spinner Rashid Khan was the star of the season as he took 21 wickets from 17 matches. In most of the matches he turned the game on his own for SRH and his presence in the team was one of the main reasons that SRH had reached the finals. Mujeeb too bowled really well as he took 14 wickets for Kings XI Punjab in 11 matches and last but not the least Mohammad Nabi played only 2 matches for SRH in this season.
The Rise of Rishabh Pant: The talented young fellow is in contention of replacing legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni in future. He has proved that he is not a one day wonder in this season’s IPL. Though his side failed to reach the playoffs but the young wicket-keeper batsman is the highest run scorer of Delhi outfit this season. When most of DD batsmen struggled to score with bat, Pant scored 684 runs in 14 matches with a humongous strike rate of 173.60. He was second in the leading run scorers list in this season as well.