The 10th season of the BBL has got underway with plenty of innovations and pathbreaking changes to the game. A few players as anticipated have done well so far in the competition and assisted their teams in featuring in the top 4. There have been certain players who have sprung up surprises by performing exceptionally well in a department they weren’t closely associated with. In fact, their impact had been so pronounced that they changed the course of the game and pulled off an unlikely victory from almost nowhere.
They have set the stage on fire with their mesmerizing display and cricket fanatics cannot help but find one or the other way to watch their favourite cricketers play. Some of these stars were also part of the recently concluded IPL where they got an invaluable chance to ply their trade at world’s most lucrative league. In the below piece, we look at 5 such players who were part of IPL 2020 and are doing great in the ongoing season of BBL:
1. Josh Philippe
This stylish wicketkeeper-batsman from Sydney Sixers was part of the RCB set-up at IPL 2020. He did get a few chances but wasn’t able to leave a significant mark playing for the perennial underachievers of the IPL.
The opener has smashed 102 runs from 3 games at an average of 34 in the ongoing season. 95 of those runs came against the Melbourne Renegades where he plundered 9 boundaries and 3 sixes to maintain a strike rate of 166.67.
Owing to the whirlwind knock, the Sixers inflicted the biggest ever defeat in BBL history on the Renegades by 145 runs and stamped authority. Given the experience he has procured so far, Philippe will be expected to deliver such performances on a consistent basis and turn heads every now and then.
2. Glenn Maxwell
Maxwell can indeed be called the ‘destiny’s child’ as he has drastically changed his low-scoring fortunes to piling hefty runs for his team. Ever since he has donned the Australian yellow, the runs have just showered off his bat and even the mishits and inside edges are disappearing for boundaries.
Leading the Stars at BBL 2020, Maxwell has struck 85 runs from 2 innings at an average of 42.50. The franchise is currently at the second position in the points table and it can be attributed to the counterattacking cricket by Maxwell and Stoinis.
He was woefully out of sorts for KXIP and that came to haunt the side in the end. It will be upon Maxwell to prove his critics wrong and blast plenty of runs with the bat, leading his team towards glory, winning another memorable title.
3. Alex Carey
Australia’s first choice keeper when it comes to limited-overs cricket, Carey is enjoying the responsibility of leading the Strikers in the ongoing season.
Carey has been part of a few games owing to the national duty and now due to injury. His fluent and well-compiled innings of 55 which included 4 fours and a single six helped in crossing the line against the current table-toppers, Hurricanes.
He will certainly be back at some point in the tournament and provide the requisite balance with his solid middle-order batting, impeccable keeping and most importantly with his supreme leadership qualities.
4. Daniel Sams
This left-arm seamer playing for the Thunders was part of the DC camp, who made it to their first IPL final. He did play in the qualifier 1 game against champions, MI but was taken to the cleaners owing to some flawless batting from the pinch-hitters.
Sams has picked 5 wickets from 3 games at an average of 19.20. His all-round performance against the Heat caught the attention of the onlookers as he not only picked wickets but hammered an unbeaten 65 off just 25 balls to turn the match on its head.
Having witnessed this show, team-mates and cricket lovers look up to him with high regards and expect him to step up his game every time that he walks on the field, winning crucial encounters and succouring the team in finishing at the top spot.
5. Nathan Coulter-Nile
This tall seamer from Australia was played on rotational terms in the MI line-up as the assisting third seamer to the likes of Bumrah and Boult. He did a fantastic job in the final of IPL 2020 and picked a couple of wickets with the shorter length.
So far in 2 BBL games, Coulter-Nile has scalped 4 wickets at an average of 8.25. All 4 of them came in the opening fixture against the Heat where he finished with mind-boggling figures of 4-10.
Given the natural pace and bounce available on the Australian tracks, Coulter-Nile is bound to succeed in his home conditions and scalp vital wickets at crucial junctures of the game. We haven’t seen his exploits with the bat as yet and if that comes together, he can become an indomitable force for the Stars to reckon with.
