South African cricket stars Heinrich Klaasen and Kagiso Rabada are styling in this season’s edition of the Indian Premier League, and are leading the way for the players from the republic.
South Africa originally boasted 17 players featuring for IPL teams, which has now swelled to 20, after George Linde, Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj were brought in as injury replacements.
Despite the strong contingent, a number of the players have not played much, while others have yet to ignite, but some have sparkled at various stages, and a few are enjoying strong campaigns so far.
In-form Klaasen
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Klaasen is arguably the best-performing South African at this stage of the competition, with him sitting second on the run-scoring charts with 414 runs, just 11 off the table-topping Abhishek Sharma.
The most impressive thing about Klaasen’s form is he regularly comes in further down the order, at four or five, and faces less balls than the players above him, but still has a highest score of 65 not out, four half centuries to his name and a brilliant average of 59.14 runs after nine innings.
Gujarat Titans’ Rabada is then arguably a close second, with him enjoying one of his best seasons in the IPL in a number of years.
He is ranked joint third on the wicket-taking log with 13 scalps, just two off current leader Eshan Malinga, and has picked up three wickets on three occasions, including best figures of 3/25, in his eight matches so far.
There have been a few other South African standouts on the batting front, with Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Quinton de Kock impressing.
Rickelton had not been at his best before his most recent innings, a superb unbeaten 123 off 55 balls for the Mumbai Indians in a losing cause against the Sunrisers, which boosted his run tally to 260 runs at an average of 52, while he has also scored a half century, in his six matches.
Solid Stubbs
Stubbs has been in solid form for the Delhi Captals, but has unfortunately been utilised down the order at five or six, which has limited his time out in the middle, but has still managed 201 runs at an average of 50.25, with two half centuries and a high score of 60 not out in his eight games.
De Kock has been under-utilised by the Mumbai Indians, only featuring three times for them, but announced his arrival in style in his first match for them with an unbeaten 112 off 60 balls against the Punjab Kings, in a game they lost.
He has only managed 20 more runs in his other two innings, for a total of 132 runs at an average of 66, but unfortunately picked up an injury in his last match so hasn’t been able to kick on.
On the bowling front no other South Africans have been as consistent as Rabada, although Nandré Burger has been decent for the Rajasthan Royals, picking up nine wickets, and Lungi Ngidi has impressed with his array of slower balls for Delhi, picking up seven scalps, but is now injured and may not feature again.
The current top four teams in the IPL are the Punjab Kings, featuring Marco Jansen, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Sunrisers Hyderabad, featuring Klaasen and Coetzee, and Rajasthan Royals, featuring Burger and Donovan Ferreira, as well as Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who has only played once, and Kwena Maphaka, who is yet to play.
