5 Players who flourished late in the IPL

4. Axar Patel

The growth of ‘Bapu’, the bowling all-rounder from Gujarat has been an interesting one. He earned his maiden IPL contract with the Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2013. He followed that up with 369 runs in seven matches and 29 wickets for Gujarat during the 2013-14 season of the Ranji Trophy and was then bought by KXIP ahead of the 2014 edition of IPL.

Even though 2014 remains his best year with the ball with 17 wickets at an average of 23.82 at an economy rate of 6.13, it is important to note his ability with the bat did not show with 62 runs in 17 matches. In 2015, he amassed 206 runs in 14 matches and picked 13 wickets. He then slumped to 111 runs and 13 wickets in 2016 even though he became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in that edition but put his best foot forward in 2017 with 227 runs in 14 matches and 15 wickets. As a result, he became the only player to be retained initially by KXIP.