The 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded with Mumbai Indians (MI) becoming the champions for the fifth time and defending the title for the first time.
The tournament also saw Delhi Capitals (DC) reaching the final for the first time and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) failing to book a place in the playoffs for the first time as well. As the tournament concluded, former Australian cricketer Brett Lee picked a few players who impressed him the most with their performances this season.
Lee was mainly in awe of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) young opener Devdutt Padikkal and Rajasthan Royals (RR) batting all-rounder Rahul Tewatia while admitting that DC played some fearless brand of cricket and praised the fast bowlers as well.
“It has been incredible. It has been hard with no fans, but to me, the best part of this season has been the young Indian players coming through. The Devdutt Padikkals, the Tewatias. We have seen the Delhi Capitals play some really good cricket, so, I will say the fast bowlers too, but I will always say the fast bowlers,” Lee, who was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in T20Is, said while speaking to Star Sports.
In his first edition of the tournament, Padikkal accumulated 473 runs in 15 innings with the help five half-centuries, while Tewatia was the standout performer for the side as he scored 255 runs and bagged 10 wickets in 14 matches.
Meanwhile, West Indies batting legend Brian Lara stated that Chris Gayle’s performance for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) was ‘amazing to watch’ in IPL 2020. The ‘Universe Boss’ amassed 277 runs at an average of 41.14 in seven innings.
“I think the Universe Boss – Chris Gayle. The reason being that if there were 50-60 thousand people watching, and when he arrived in the tournament at the second half,” Lara said.
“His performances and how he got Kings XI Punjab going and almost getting there. I think it’s just been amazing watching him and the turnaround of Kings XI Punjab,” the 51-year-old added.
