IPL 2021: Rahul, Dhawan & Suryakumar - Highest Impact Indian Batsmen Last Three Years of IPL

The 14th edition of the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) gets underway in Chennai from the 9th of April. Mumbai Indians are the two time defending champions. There have been some great performances over the last three years of the league by Indian batsmen – the likes of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant to name a few.

We look at the three highest impact batsmen in the IPL in the last three years from 2018 to 2020.

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1. KL Rahul

KL Rahul aggregated 670 runs in 14 innings at an average of 55.83 and strike rate of 129.34 in IPL 2020 ending as the highest run-getter of the season. His exploits included one hundred and 5 fifties. Rahul topped the run-charts despite his side Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) not making the playoffs – that is how good and consistent he was in the tournament. Rahul has been a run-making machine in the IPL over the last 3 editions.

He was the second-highest scorer in IPL 2019 and the third-highest in IPL 2018. No one has scored more runs combined than Rahul in the last three seasons of the IPL. He has been the constant for Punjab Kings at the top of the order. He has played the role of an anchor and accumulator of late but has been at his dangerous best when he unleashes Rahul – The Aggressor. His best knock across the three editions came in 2020 in Dubai against the RCB when opening the innings he blasted a stunning 132 off just 69 deliveries – including 14 fours and 7 sixes.

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2. Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan aggregated 497 runs in 16 matches at an average of 38.23 and strike rate of 136.91 including 4 fifties for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018. His efforts at the top went a long way in ensuring that the Sunrisers reached the final of the league. But the real show was about to come in the next two editions.

A move to Delhi Capitals also saw the return of Dhawan the Aggressor in the IPL. After an indifferent and cautious start in 2019 and 2020, he suddenly changed gears mid-way and unleashed his A-game – attacking and annihilating the opposition attack. He turned from accumulator to aggressor and scored big runs consistently at a very high strike rate playing match-winning knocks for his franchise.

From a mere 132 runs at a rate of 122.22 in the first six matches, Dhawan hammered 486 runs in his last 11 matches last season at a strike rate of 152.35 in IPL 2020. He scored at a rate of 151.01 in the latter half of the tournament in 2019 after crawling at 116.03 in the first six matches of the season.

Dhawan has been the highest run-getter for the Capitals in the previous two editions of the IPL. It was largely his efforts that helped the Capitals make it to the final for the very first time in the UAE last year.

3. Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav has been the unsung hero of Mumbai Indians over the last three years. He is the highest scorer in terms of combined aggregate for the champion franchise between 2018-2020 – the period in which they have lifted the trophy on two occasions. He has been the Mr Consistent for them and not got his due with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard grabbing the headlines.

Yadav  scored 424 runs at a strike rate of 130.86 in 2019 and 512 runs at a strike rate of 133.33 in 2018. He has an aggregate of 1416 runs in the last three seasons and played a pivotal role with the bat in their successive title wins in 2019 and 2020. This is no mean achievement in a team full of superstars. Versatility is another quality of Yadav’s batting. While he batted at number 3 in IPL 2020 and IPL 2019, he was hugely successful as an opener in IPL 2018.

He was finally rewarded for his efforts with a call-up for the T20I series against England. Yadav did not disappoint!

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