Memorable maiden IPL outings of overseas players
After England's Liam Plunkett got off the mark in the Indian Premier League with an immaculate spell of T20 pace bowling, we looked at some of the other stand-out performances by a foreign player.
Published : Apr 23, 2018 23:23 IST
Shoaib Akhtar - 4/11 vs Delhi Daredevils, 2008
Kolkata Knight Riders had to wait until its ninth match of the season to unleash the Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar. Akhtar spent majority of the inaugural IPL season on the sidelines nursing an injury. However, when he took the field against Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens for the first time in KKR colours, he produced a blistering spell of pace-bowling. He ripped out Delhi's top-four batsmen - Virender Sehwag (0), Gautam Gambhir (10), AB de Villiers (7) and Manoj Tiwary (9) - to set KKR up for a famous win.
It was the first-ever game in IPL history. And, McCullum was called in to deliver the fireworks. The Kiwi wicket-keeper batsman took RCB's ageing outfit to the cleaners on that night. His 73-ball knock was studded with 10 fours and 13 sixes. McCullum's feat will be measured by the fact that the next best score of the match was just 20. KKR recorded a 140-run win to get the ball rolling.
Andrew Tye - 5/17 vs Rising Pune Supergiant, 2017
After spending his first two seasons on the bench without bowling a delivery, Tye needed just five balls to get his maiden wicket. The Aussie, in fact, made it a day to remember by going on to scalp the wicket of Ben Stokes - most expensive player in 2017 IPL, before a hat-trick in the last over.
Lasith Malinga - 3/15 vs Chennai Super Kings, 2009
The tournament's highest-ever wicket-taker started his journey back in 2009 in when the IPL was moved out of India. Pitted against the 2008 runner-up, Malinga prised out opener Parthiv Patel off only his second ball. MS Dhoni, one of the better finishers at the time, struggled to get the required elevation off Malinga's yorkers as Mumbai got off to a winning start at Cape Town.
Liam Plunkett - 3/17 vs Kings XI Punjab, 2018
Coming in as a last-minute replacement for the Injured Kagiso Rabada, Plunkett made his IPL bow in only Delhi's sixth match. When called upon to bowl, he made an instant impact by dismissing the dangerous KL Rahul for just 23 inside the powerplay. He then got rid of Rahul's Karnataka team-mates Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair to reign in Punjab's surge.