Contributed by: Vinitha Vankayalapati
Age is just a number for our veteran cricketers. Our veteran players are telling us that there’s a lot of fire still left in them. I’m talking about our cricketers who are in the end stage of their careers and who are giving mind-blowing performances in IPL 2023. Credit to franchises for keeping trust in veteran players like Piyush Chawla, Karn Sharma, and Mohit Sharma and giving them proper opportunities. Let us talk about a few players who are giving match-winning performances in the end stage of their careers.
- Faf Du Plessis
Faf Du Plessis is a 38 year old cricketer from South Africa. He is one of fittest cricketer. He is captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is orange cap holder this season. He scored 702 runs at an average of 58 and at a strike rate of 153. He is the main reason for RCB’s success this season. He doesn’t have a single single digit score this season. He has 8 half centuries to his name. Faf has hit the highest number of 6’s this season. He has hit 36 sixes from 13 games.
- Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan is the most underrated cricketer in this generation.
Shikar is 37 years old and he is currently leading Punjab Kings Franchise in IPL 2023. He failed as a captain, but his performance with the bat was very good. He is the highest run scorer for Punjab Kings. He scored 373 runs at an average of 41 and at the strike rate of 141. He scored 3 half centuries from 11 games. He performed well when his team was struggling to score runs. He scored 99 runs against SRH where his team just scored 143.
- Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma was picked by Delhi Capitals for base price in IPL 2023. Delhi Capitals paid 50L to acquire his services. Ishant Sharma has played 8 matches this season. He picked up 10 wickets. He is bowling economical overs in the powerplay and he is giving a great start to DC.
He has a strike rate of 15 which is a great stat. He is bowling with economy of just 8.2 this season. He defended 11 runs against Hardik Pandya and Rahul Tewatia in the final over and he won that game for his team.
- Piyush Chawla
Piyush Chawla is currently playing for Mumbai Indians team in IPL 2023. He is 34 years old veteran Indian spinner. He is currently in the purple cap race this season. He is 4th highest wicket taker this season. He played 13 games and he picked 20 wickets at an average of just 19. He has a strike rate of 15 with the ball which is exceptional. He bowled the most number of dot balls for Mumbai Indians this season. He is bowling with an economy of just 7.33 this season. He is one of the main reasons for MI’s success this season.
- Mohit Sharma
One of the surprising picks of this season’s IPL auction was Mohit Sharma. GT picked him for base price. Mohit Sharma is one of the most experienced players in the IPL. He played 10 matches this season. He took 17 wickets at the strike rate of 10.88. His economy is just 7.4. He is bowling important death overs for GT and he delivered in each and every match. His best figures this season are 4/28. He is averaging 13.5 with the ball this season. This is a redemption season for him.
- Amit Mishra
Amit Mishra is a 40 years old cricketer. He is currently playing for Lucknow SuperGiants in IPL 2023. Mishra played 7 games and he picked up 7 wickets. Though Mishraji picked up less number of wickets, his impact with the ball was exceptional. He bowled just 19 overs this season. He is averaging 21 with the ball and has a strike rate of 16. He is bowling with an economy of 7.8. Mishraji’s Magic in middle overs has worked for LSG this season.
- MS Dhoni
#7 belongs to one and only Thala Dhoni. Thala is giving vintage vibes to ICT fans. Thala is finishing games for Chennai Super Kings and he is giving a great gift to his fans. Thala is playing just 2-3 overs in the death overs. Dhoni is averaging 49 with the bat this season. He is scoring at the strike rate of 196. Thala has hit 10 sixes this season and just 3 fours. Thala never underutilised his players who are in playing 11. He gave specific roles to his players and his players are performing really well.The credit of Shivam Dube’s redemption in IPL goes to Dhoni.
His vision to pick Rahane in the auction has worked very well.
