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West Indians in the IPL 2021
source: Andre Russell image from News 18, Gayle image from Times Now, Pooran image from Sports Tiger, Pollard image from India Today (collage maker)

 

The West Indians in an IPL are like a free-hit in the very first over.

Or you can say, a no-ball in a super over. What follows is nail-biting fun and usually lots of runs.

Excitement is their second nature.

They bring the element of thrill and lest it is forgotten, big power.

You cannot not have a West Indian muscling his way to one six too many in any edition of the IPL.

Over the years, Gayle’s produced several storms. Memories of his 175 are still afresh in our minds. Then there’s Pollard and Bravo- who’ll dive all day in the field and muscle a six with the minutest twitch of the arm.

But the key question as far as this truncated IPL is concerned is – just how did the West Indians in the IPL 2021 perform?

Was it about towering hits or not really the big show one had expected of them?

 

Chris Gayle

For a batsman widely recognised as the Universe Boss, a moniker that’s stuck by for his rollicking T20 exploits, the least that must be said is that Chris Gayle was among the West Indians in the IPL 2021 that hugely disappointed.

The big shots, the freeing of the arms, and the charisma to make boundaries appear like tiny circles drawn upon the earth- there were no Gayle-shenanigans in the now-suspended IPL 2021.

Moreover, for a man who once raised the bar high for the big-hitting standards in the IPL, courtesy his 175, it was surprising and saddening in equal measure that Gayle stuck no fifties whatsoever.

Even when he struck a personal best of 46 (against the RCB), the only real time where it seemed the old Gayle had returned, it took the lanky Jamaican seven odd innings to approach a score nearing a fifty.

He did fire a breezy forty against the Rajasthan Royals off just twenty eight delivers at the beginning, but the man who once cleared the ropes with ease wasn’t anywhere to be seen this time around.

Fans might call it sad but what was sadder and stranger was perhaps Gayle being moved out of his familiar role as the opener.

Just what prompted the Punjab contingent to execute that move is something stranger than any Urban Legend.

 

Sunil Narine

There was once a man with a sense of magic; a bowler with an air of mystery about him, and a batsman who slashed hard at everything thrown at him.

But the Sunil Narine the IPL 2021 showed wasn’t this guy.

Anyone seen the lost property? Report him to world cricket urgently.

Truthfully speaking, this time around Narine existed but wasn’t really there, if it conveys something.

It’s not that he didn’t get a chance to bat, but he made no more than a collective of ten runs. Perhaps CSK’s Shardul Thakur bowled more wides than the runs Narine scored.

As for his spinning mysteries, Narine went wicketless in two of the four games he played, apart from registering two ducks in all.

What’s left of the bowler the world once came to scratch heads whilst facing is the bling he wears around the neck and the mohawk that hasn’t disappeared for the mystique certainly has.

 

Shimron Hetmyer

Hetmyer, who had been lacking in form and that touch prior to the tournament, seemed way better during the IPL than Ravi Shastri does every time upon being asked if he was found sleeping during a Pujara inning.

A useful lower-order bat for the Delhi Capitals, Hetmyer accumulated runs freely, stroking over cover and long-on with glee.

Moreover, he was excellent at power-hitting and sending the bad balls to their demise.

His consecutive sixes against Harshal Patel of all bowlers during his unbeaten 53 was a gem that Kohli would’ve dreaded but Pant would love for the times to come.

Moreover, in the contest against the RCB, which Delhi lost by a solitary run, the world got to see why this brave West Indian is regarded so highly, even if he himself doesn’t regard the fact that by losing some weight he’d do himself a world of good.

Surely, Delhi must think about promoting Hetmyer up the order as also compelling him to stand on the weighing scale.

 

Jason Holder

It’s bitterly disappointing quite like every time John Campbell throws off a good Test start that all we saw of Jason Holder in the just-concluded IPL 2021 is the solitary game he played against the RCB.

Can you believe it?

One game. That’s all the Sunrisers used one of the world’s most prominent all-rounders for.

How did he spend his spare time, one wonders? Learning how to prepare the Hyderabadi Biryani?

Little wonder there was a lack of cohesion and application in the Hyderabad contingent this time around.

But even in the one opportunity he got, Holder took a game-turning 3-for and proved his worth with the ball.

A giant who can hit sixes at will, it could be said there were hardly any that he ended up hitting for he simply wasn’t allowed to or given a chance at.

What else are you gonna say?

Hope one of the world’s most prominent all-rounders enjoyed the refreshments in the dugout and the in-room dining service in the five-star hotel he was put in for what else must he have done in this COVID-marred IPL stint?

Never mind Jase, you’ll get your chance to shine up ahead.

 

Andre Russell

They call him Dre Russ but for real, it’s time he should be called muscle Russell.

That Russell hits the cricket ball hard as if to him it’s nothing more than a ping-pong ball is known as widely as the fact that Boris Johnson sports a horrible hairdo.

But that one of the West Indians in the IPL 2021 who created magic with the ball was Andre Russell might be your most under-appreciated fact of the IPL 2021.

Did you notice?

In the game against the Mumbai Indians, Russell collected his best IPL bowling figures – a 5 for 15.

Surely, a feat even a Bumrah would’ve appreciated albeit whilst biting his fingers.

But apart from that, Russell also powered a mighty 54 off just 22 deliveries (vs CSK), at a strike rate of 245, an exhibition of hitting so exhilarating that it would’ve excited even Gayle or Pooran, both of whom were found lacking in runs.

Kieron Pollard

Well, let’s just put it this way that three things about Mumbai can never change:

Constant traffic

Overworked corporate execs

Kieron Pollard in the Mumbai Indians side.

May the third never change.

The West Indian white-ball captain was in full flourish at the recent contest in Delhi’s Kotla stadium where the number of times and the manner in which he hit the Chennai bowlers was akin to some wild beast being unleashed on an underfed newborn.

In one of the most remarkable expositions of power-hitting, Pollard timed, cut, drove and hoisted mega runs as if he was a trader whose only currencies were fours and sixes.

An inning personally hailed by Rohit Sharma, Pollard’s 87* was just the kind of entertainment that we wished all West Indians in the IPL 2021 would’ve served.

But it’s fine, you win some, you lose some. He’ll be back for more.

Importantly, his knock was the best ever score by a Caribbean dasher in this edition.

 

Nicholas Pooran

Well, facts first.

Nicholas Pooran, it appeared, came to India to begin a new parallel career- to grow a personal collection of ducks for the number he ended up collecting was far too many to count.

In case, you’ve trashed the idea of throwing your boot at me for the joke is too hideous to even make the effort- fact is that Nicholas Pooran this time around wasn’t the Nicholas Pooran we’ve come to know.

You know the one who’s a classy, big-hitting and importantly, fearless batsman.

How?

For starters, he scored four ducks, including one wherein he didn’t even face a delivery. Somehow, he kept up the West Indian tradition of surprising fans with something different by ending up scoring 19 as his personal best, in the process of which he collected 28 overall runs from 7 games.

Surely, if any student of elementary math was to do some exercise, showing him Pooran’s stats would help endlessly.

What was his batting average, student?

4! But the question is, what for?

 

 

Dwayne Bravo

 

Without  a doubt one of the most entertaining West Indians in the IPL 2021 as also in any season-usually speaking- it’s a shame that the mega cash-rich league didn’t really get to see a lot of Bravo this time around.

Not that Dwayne Bravo emerged like Dwayne the Rock Johnson with the bat, not in the least, since he scored 20 runs in all from 4 games.

But on a serious note- when it did seem he was coming good with the ball, finding his rhythm with the slower ones, it was time up for CSK as also for the other sides with the tournament being suddenly suspended but rightly so.

As one of the most gifted and agile fielders of his time, probably Bravo is still that complete package any side looks at as a stellar pick. Hence the faith the Dhoni-led team have vested in a true great of the T20 format to this date.

 

 

Player Matches Highest    score  Runs Wickets 50s
 

Chris Gayle

 

8 46  

178 (avg 25.4)

 

      –  –
 

 

Sunil Narine

 

 

4 6  

10(avg      2.5)

 

 

 

3

(best 2 for 22)

 

 

 

Shimron Hetmyer

 

 

6

 

53*

 

 

 

 

84

(avg 84 with 5 not outs)

 

 

 

1

 

 

Jason Holder

 

 

1

 

4

 

4

 

 

 

3

(best 3 for 30)

 

 

 

Andre Russell

 

7 54  

 

163

(avg of   23.3)

 

 

 

7

(best 5 for 15)

 

1
 

Kieron Pollard

 

7 87*  

168 (avg 24)

 

 

 

3

 

(best of 2 for12)

1
 

      Nicholas Pooran

 

 

 

7

 

 

19

 

 

 

28

(avg       4.3)

 

 

 

 

 

Dwayne Bravo

 

 

4

 

20*

 

 

20

(avg 20*)

 

 

 

 

3

(best of 1 for 28)

 

 

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