Although there have been a lot of players who have left a mark of themselves in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), there were also some players who have been consistent over the years and proven match-winners for their respective teams. Today is the birthday of three such players, Andre Russell, Ashish Nehra and James Faulkner.
While Nehra has hanged his boots from all forms of cricket and he is mentoring the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing season, Russell and Faulkner are still known as the complete all-rounders.
Russell is one of the most-wanted players in the T20 leagues all-round world. He was brought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2014 and since then he has been associated with the team. The same year he even helped his team to lift the coveted trophy as well. Talking of numbers, in his 200 T20 innings he has amassed more than 3500 runs at a strike rate of 160+ and in the bowling front, he has picked as many as 215 scalps 225 games.
However, in IPL these numbers get bigger and better as in 41 IPL matches, Andre has smashed 781 runs at a mind-boggling strike rate of 180+, while in bowling front he has scalped 33 wickets in the same number of matches. Even in the ongoing season, he has been doing wonders for KKR but only with the bat as he has scored 207 runs in just 7 games at a strike rate of more than 200. Today he will be playing against RCB and would like to get his team over the line on his birthday. He has turned 30 today.
Nehra has been one of the bowlers who has been one of the old horses who used IPL to get back into the national squad. Before announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket, Ashish was the bowling spearhead of the Indian team in the T20s. In IPL, he played most of his matches for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), while his last IPL match came for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Talking about numbers, Nehra has been one of the top wicket-takers in the history of IPL as he has picked 105 scalps in 88 matches and maintained an economy of less than 8 despite being a death over specialist. He will be turning 39 today and his team RCB will love to treat their mentor with a memorable win on his birthday.
In 2013, Faulkner announced himself as one of the best T20 players in the world. It was the sixth edition of IPL and he was the match-winner for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in that season. as he picked 28 wickets in 16 matches but failed to make his team win the tournament. In the history of IPL, he has done a decent job by picked 59 wickets in 60 games and scored 527 runs with a strike rate of 135. He played for Gujarat Lions (GL) in last two seasons of IPL. However, he went unsold in the IPL players’ auction of 2018. He has turned 29 today.
Here are some of the congratulatory tweets for the players:
A happy 30th birthday to one of the game's biggest entertainers – Andre Russell.
Is there anything on a cricket field this man can't do? pic.twitter.com/VUmTLC3blY
— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) April 29, 2018
164 matches
235 wickets
A famous 6/23 v England at CWC 2003Happy birthday to former India bowler Ashish Nehra! pic.twitter.com/BHgR4KVn2L
— ICC (@ICC) April 29, 2018
