The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League was completed with aplomb in the UAE. While the tournament saw both batsmen and bowlers providing exceptional performances throughout the competition, batsmen always take the bigger piece of the cake in T20 cricket.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan analyzed the season that went by and picked his top 5 batsmen of IPL 2020 for Cricbuzz. Not surprisingly, he had the Orange Cap holder KL Rahul on the list. However, the interesting part is that the other 4 players are all from the Champion side Mumbai Indians.
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Rahul scored a personal-best of 670 runs in the season in 14 innings at the top of the order for Kings XI Punjab. He averaged 55.83 but his strike rate of 129.34 drew criticism.
Vaughan told Cricbuzz, "I’m starting with KL Rahul. He’s had a great time in the series."
He moved on to another opener Quinton de Kock, who provided numerous aggressive starts to the eventual champions Mumbai Indians. The southpaw registered over 500 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 140.50. He recorded 4 half-centuries as well with the highest score of 78.
“The impact that De Kock creates for his franchise is immense. He makes it count in the first six overs,” Vaughan said.
Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya were as dangerous as any in the death overs for the men in Blue and Gold. Both these big-hitters had the best strike rate in the tournament with players scoring at least 150 runs.
The final name in the list is that of the uncapped Suryakumar Yadav, who Vaughan considered to be the standout player of the season. He scored over 400 runs for the third consecutive season and registered his two highest individual scores in the IPL. He recorded 480 runs at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 145.02.
The 2020 edition of the #IndianT20League saw some spectacular batting displays. From #KieronPollard's fireworks to #KLRahul's class-laden innings.
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) November 13, 2020
Watch @MichaelVaughan pick his Top 5 batsmen from the season on @My11Circle presents #CricbuzzLive pic.twitter.com/iqz06wIMo7
