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Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020 | The 5 players who evolved the most from previous IPL seasons

The Indian Premier League recently completed its thirteenth year as the best T20 league in the world with Mumbai Indians retaining their Title. We witnessed so many nail biting finishes, some terrific individual performances, a glimpse of the local talents etc.

Apart from these, there were some players who performed exceedingly well in this season unlike their performances in the previous seasons. As a result, they turned out to be the surprise packages for us in IPL 2020. In this article, I am going to name five such players, who have had a major turnaround in this year’s IPL. Here we go.

5. Mayank Agarwal (KXIP)

Mayank Agarwal has been playing in the IPL since 2011. Despite being a top order batsman, he had crossed the 50-run mark just five times in 72 innings before 2020. Can you believe it?

His overall average and SR were just 18.34 and 128.13 respectively prior to this season. He would hit 3-4 gorgeous shots and then get out cheaply, so the consistency was not there at all. Preliminarily being counted as a Test specialist these days, Agarwal showcased his adaptability as an all-format batsman by playing some really impactful knocks in IPL 2020. He rescued KXIP in their very first game against DC and took it to the Super Over by playing a tremendous innings of 89 runs off 60 balls. Also, he scored a magnificent 45-ball hundred against RR, made a resolved fifty versus KKR and was instrumental in providing KXIP a quick start in almost every game he played.

His efforts are well reflected in his stats as he finished with 424 runs at a really good average of 38.55 and a brilliant SR of 156.46. Therefore, he deserves to be in my list of one of the most evolved surprise packages of this season.

4. Eoin Morgan (KKR)

Eoin Morgan is a big name in international cricket. But as far as IPL is concerned, he was nothing short of an underperformer considering all seasons prior to 2020. If I go by numbers, he had 854 runs to his name overall with a poor average of 21.35 and a SR of mere 121.13 prior to IPL 2020.

But, in this season, he amassed 418 runs with a terrific average of 41.80 and a healthy SR of 138.41. He consistently scored quick 40s and played a big part in the finishing job for KKR. His splendid knock of 68* off just 35 balls was instrumental to defeat RR in their last league match and thus kept the playoff hopes of KKR truly alive. So, definitely I find Morgan to be much more effective as well as successful in this season unlike the previous seasons he was a part of. Therefore, he is in my list of one of the most evolved surprise packages of IPL 2020.  

3. Jason Holder (SRH)

Another prominent name to have sparkled in this season for the very first time is Jason Holder. What I could term ‘’funny’’ is he wasn’t even a part of the IPL as he went unsold in the auction. But when Mitchell Marsh was ruled out because of injury, SRH signed him as a like-for-like replacement.

This move surprisingly did wonders for their team as Holder played a crucial role with the ball by taking 14 wickets from 7 games with a brilliant avg of 16.64 and SR of 12. Also, he scored 66 runs including 2 vital knocks of 26* and 24* ; both against RCB, which ensured a SRH-victory. In the previous seasons, he had taken just five wickets from 11 matches, with a disastrous bowling avg of 61.2 and SR of 43.2. It clearly shows the evolution of the Windies captain as a player in this IPL; for which he is a part of this list.

2. T. Natarajan (SRH)

If I have to say the finest discovery in this IPL, my answer would be T Natarajan. His evolution as a bowler is nothing short of spectacular. Natarajan made his debut in the IPL back in 2017, in which he had an unimpressive outing. He took just two wickets from six games at an average of 57.50 and a SR of 38.00. The economy was also over 9. So, he was barely noticed.

But the comeback was tremendous in this season. He led the bowling attack especially in death overs and his ability to nail yorkers consistently and accurately has been one of the major talking points this season. If I consider stats, he has picked 16 wickets from 16 games at an average of 31.50 and a SR of 23.56. Despite bowling numerous overs at the death, he has a good economy of 8.02. The way he troubled guys like Pant, Pollard, AB etc, was remarkable.

1. Rahul Tewatia (RR)

We all are well aware of the exploits of Rahul Tewatia in IPL 2020. His sensational six hitting against Sheldon Cottrell, domination against Rashid Khan are still fresh in my mind.

But it took quite a while for Tewatia to make his mark in IPL. He has been playing in the league since 2014, but didn’t have a noteworthy season prior to 2020. In the 20 games before this year, he had got a chance to bat in 12 games, in which he scored 111 runs at an average of 18.5 and had a modest SR of 124.71. But, in this season, he has smashed 255 runs at a brilliant average of 42.50 and SR of 139.34. More importantly, he finished really well for RR when their much anticipated finisher Riyan Parag was struggling. Apart from his efforts, the credit must be given to the RR management for trusting his abilities and using him properly.

So, this is my list of five most evolved players who came as a surprise package for all of us in IPL 2020. Do you agree? Have your say!

Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.