We made a list of the five best players ever in the IPL. Here’re some of the greatest players the tournament has ever seen.
5. Hardik Pandya
Pandya is really good at ending cricket matches well in India right now. He’s ranked fifth on our list because he hasn’t played as much as some other players.
He started playing for the Mumbai Indians in 2015. Since then, he’s become one of the best at scoring lots of runs quickly in T20 cricket.
His powerful hits towards the end of games helped Mumbai win four titles in seven seasons. Then, he became captain of a new team called Gujarat Titans and led them to their first title in 2022.
Throughout his time in the IPL, Pandya has scored 1,963 runs at a really fast rate.
In 2022, Pandya showed his skill at finishing games well several times. He ended the tournament as the fourth-highest run-scorer and stayed not out in four games.
4. Andre Russell
Russell is really good at hitting balls in cricket. He plays in a league called the IPL and he’s one of the best there. In all the games he’s played, he hits the ball really well. Especially in the last four overs of the game, he’s super good. His team, Kolkata Knight Riders, really likes him because he helps them win. Once, he scored 48 runs in just 13 balls and helped his team win a tough game. He’s so good that he’s been named the best player in the league twice.
3. Kieron Pollard
Having Pollard and Pandya in the middle of Mumbai’s batting lineup helped them win in the IPL.
Pollard is a very strong batsman and plays really well in the IPL.
He’s from the West Indies and has scored over 5,000 runs in the final overs of matches, with more than 1,700 in the IPL.
His strike rate (how fast he scores) in the last four overs is very high, especially in the IPL.
He’s hit 223 sixes in the IPL, which is the fifth highest ever.
Pollard has helped Mumbai Indians win many matches where they had to score a lot of runs to win. That’s why he’s ranked third on our list.
2. AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers is really good at playing cricket, especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He’s known for finishing games strongly. He played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2011 to 2021 and made some amazing scores.
He hits the ball really hard and fast. He’s hit 251 sixes, which is the second-highest ever in the IPL. His strike rate, which shows how fast he scores runs, is also really high.
But what’s really impressive is how well he plays in the last overs of a game. In those tense moments, he’s scored 1,421 runs in 75 innings. That’s a big deal because it’s not easy to score so many runs when the game is almost finished. His average score in those innings is 40.6, and his strike rate is an incredible 232.56. That means he scores runs really quickly when it matters most.
1. MS Dhoni
Even though Dhoni hasn’t been as good lately, he’s still the best at finishing games in the IPL.
He’s famous for helping his team win from the middle of the game by hitting the ball well and staying calm.
In the IPL, Dhoni has scored 2,530 runs when the game is almost over, with a very high strike rate, and he’s hit the fourth most sixes, 229 in total.
One of his biggest wins was in 2016 when he scored 23 runs in the last over to help Rising Pune Supergiants beat Kings XI Punjab.
But this is just one example of many times Dhoni has helped his team win. It will be really hard for anyone to be better than him at finishing games in the IPL.
READ MORE: Top 5 Most Successful IPL Captains
