New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings were successful in defeating Kolkata Knight Riders to win the 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL. Like what usually happens in T20 format, batsmen dominated the tournament in IPL Phase 2 and this year, CSK opener Rituraj Gaikwad, IPL 2021 Orange Cap winner, emerged as one of the biggest stars.
Apart from Gaikwad, KKR's Venkatesh Iyer, CSK's Faf du Plessis, KKR's Shubman Gill and DC's Shikhar Dhawan also made a big impact with their batting performances. Punjab Kings failed to make it to this year's playoffs, but skipper KL Rahul won everyone's heart with his batting, this season too.
Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan has named the five best batsmen he has been most impressed by, in this year's IPL.
The former English captain, in an interview with Cricbuzz, has placed PBKS skipper KL Rahul at the top of his list of best five batsmen from IPL 2021. Rahul scored 626 runs off 13 IPL games this season, with an impressive strike rate of 138.80. KL Rahul is also the first batsman to score 600 runs in IPL 2021.
Michael Vaughan has placed Delhi Capitals opener Shikhar Dhawan at number two. Dhawan had scored 587 runs off 16 IPL games this season. CSK's Faf du Plessis, who scored 633 runs off 16 IPL matches, is at number three in Vaughan's list. Plessis missed out on winning the Orange Cap by just 3 runs.
Michael Vaughan placed CSK's star opener Rituraj Gaikwad - the highest run-scorer in IPL 2021 - at number four in his list. RCB's Glenn Maxwell secured the fifth spot in Vaughan's list. The star Australian all-rounder scored 513 runs off 15 IPL games for RCB.