Biggest Impact Overseas Players in IPL History

Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a platform for youngsters to showcase their skills and, most importantly, stake claim for a spot in the national team. IPL has also been providing them with a chance to rub shoulders with star international players. 

To ensure that Indian talent thrives, the BCCI has limited the number of overseas players in every playing XI to four and allowed a maximum of eight such players in the squad.

However, even then, some of the overseas players hogged the limelight with their performance in the cash-rich league over the years. Cricket Match Prediction was extremely tough for the experts due to these players. Hence, we look at five overseas players who managed to have the biggest impact in IPL history.

David Warner

David Warner is one of the most consistent players in the history of the cash-rich league. The man led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to the title in 2016 and has played for two franchises in his illustrious career so far. Warner has played 182 matches since making his debut back in 2009 and has scored 6563 runs at an average of 41.01 and a strike rate of 139.87. Such has been his consistency that he has smacked 62 fifties and four centuries in 182 outings in the IPL.

Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga is one of the very few players to play for a single team during his much-celebrated IPL career. He featured for five-time champions Mumbai Indians from 2009 to 2019 and performed in almost every game for them. In 122 matches, Malinga picked up a mammoth 170 wickets and is the seventh-highest wicket-taker in the tournament history. 

Malinga’s bowling average of 19.79, strike rate of 16.62 and economy of 7.14 is one of the best while he also picked up six four-wicket hauls and a single five-wicket haul during his illustrious career playing a crucial role in all the championship wins for MI. Malinga’s final memory in IPL remains the last ball to Shardul Thakur that caught him plumb in front of the stumps to win MI the 2019 IPL season, their fourth trophy in IPL history.

Kieron Pollard

Another player who played only for Mumbai Indians during his entire IPL career was Kieron Pollard. Making his IPL debut back in 2010, Pollard turned up for the joint-most successful franchise till 2022 before hanging his boots from the cash-rich league. He won many lost matches for MI during his 189-match IPL career smashing 3412 runs in 171 innings at a brilliant strike-rate of 147.32. 

He is also one of the few players to smack more sixes than fours going over the boundary line 223 times as opposed to hitting 218 fours. Pollard remained unbeaten on 52 occasions during his career which highlights his finishing skills. 

Moreover, he also led Mumbai Indians in a few matches whenever Rohit Sharma didn’t play due to injury and loved the leadership responsibility as well. Coming down the order to bat every time, Pollard managed to hit 16 fifties in his career. Such was his impact that Betting Odds used to change in favour of MI within a few overs.

AB de Villiers

All the cricket tips from the experts used to fail whenever AB de Villiers took the field during his IPL career. The 360-degree batter played in the T20 extravaganza from the inaugural edition to 2021 before he decided to hang his boots. De Villiers played for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the majority of his career and had also turned up for the Delhi franchise at the start. 

He played 184 matches overall smashing 5162 runs at an average of almost 40 and a strike-rate of impeccable 151.68. He struck three tons and 40 fifties during his career and also ended up hitting 251 sixes to go with 413 fours. The only regret in De Villiers' illustrious career was that he could never win an IPL trophy and his team RCB too is still searching for one.

Chris Gayle

Winning the toss or losing the toss was irrelevant if Chris Gayle clicked on the day for his particular IPL team. Such was his aura that the Universe Boss literally bossed the IPL on multiple occasions during his career that spanned from 2009 to 2021 in the cash-rich league. Gayle still owns the massive record of 175* for the highest individual score in IPL having done it in 2013 for RCB against Pune Warriors India.

Overall, in 141 innings, he smashed 4965 runs at an average of 39.72 and a strike rate of 148.96 with a stunning six tons and 31 fifties. Gayle also smacked 357 sixes in IPL which is still the most with Rohit Sharma the closest having hit 272 sixes.