IPL 2022: Most Underrated Players Of The Season

With 71 matches played in the IPL 2022, we are mere days away from finding a new champion. Gujarat Titans registered a win against Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 1 to become the first team to reach the finals this season, while Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will fight for the other spot in the finals. 

Throughout the tournament, many names impressed the cricketing fraternity. These names ranged from established international players to uncapped Indian players. However, there were some names that didn't make it to the headlines even though they performed their part for the team to perfection on occasions.

'Underrated' literally means to think of someone as less clever or skilled or useful than they are. Let's go through a list of players that in our opinion, were 'underrated' in IPL 2022.

1. Shubman Gill - Gujarat Titans

The Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill played his part well enough for the new franchise after being acquired as a draft pick ahead of IPL 2022 mega auctions. The opener has scored 438 runs in the season in 15 matches at a strike rate of 136.02 averaging 31.28.

Even though the player had only 4 scores of 50+, his fifties came in matches where it wasn't as easy to bat. His top score of 96 came against Punjab Kings in the 16th match, where Gujarat were chasing a total of 190. 

As GT lost the opener, Matthew Wade, in the 4th over, Gill held one end as he smacked 96 runs in 59 deliveries with 11 fours and a six.

The second-highest score in the match was 64 runs (Livingstone) while only two other batters managed to cross the 30-run mark. 
Gill scored 84 runs against Delhi Capitals in the 10th match, where only two other batters were able to cross the 30-run mark - Rishabh Pant (43) & Hardik Pandya (31). 

The 22-year old batter has a strike rate of 122.02 with 6 dismissals in the powerplays while smacks at an average of 154.01 with 211 runs to his name in the middle overs, taking on the spinners. Gujarat Titans team has worked like a well-oiled machine, becoming the first team to reach the finals. 

2. Shahbaz Ahmed - Royal Challengers Bangalore 

The RCB all-rounder has registered 207 runs in the 10 innings he has batted in the IPL 2022. Even though Shahbaz Ahmed hasn't registered a fifty in the tournament, he has at times played important knocks & cameos, at times helping other batters to strike freely on the other end. 

Ahmed top scores this IPL read 45, 41 & 32* runs. In the 13th match against Rajasthan Royals, RCB were chasing a target of 170 runs. After RCB lost 5 wickets for 87 runs in the 13th over, Ahmed came on to bat and etched a partnership of 67 runs in 33 deliveries with Dinesh Karthik for the 6th wicket. 

This partnership proved vital for RCB as Shahbaz scored 45 runs in 36 deliveries with 4 fours & 3 sixes, getting dismissed at 154 in the 18th over, after which DK took over and finished the match with a win for RCB. 

3. Wriddhiman Saha - Gujarat Titans

The inclusion of the other GT opener - Wriddhiman Saha in this list goes on to prove that even though the pair haven't collected the limelight, yet have completed their job adequately for the team.

Saha was brought in after 5 matches but once he came in, he cemented his spot. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batter has registered 312 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 123.80. 

Interestingly, the GT opener has smacked 212 of these runs in the powerplay at a strike rate of 136.77, while his partner Shubman Gill anchored at the other end to give the maximum strike to Saha in the powerplays. 

Saha's top score of 68 came in the 40th match of IPL 2022 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. GT were chasing a massive target of 196, and most of us remember this match for Rahul Tewatia (40*) and Rashid Khan (31*) as they provided excellent finishing to register an unlikely win. Or even, one may remember Umran Malik who picked his maiden IPL 5-wicket haul. 

However, it was Wriddhiman Saha who set the ground for this run chase. After etching a partnership of 69 runs in 7.3 overs with Shubman Gill, Saha didn't bulge as he continued till the 14th over, when the team total was 122. Saha smashed 68 runs in 38 deliveries with 11 fours & a six at a strike rate of 178.94.

4. Shimron Hetmyer - Rajasthan Royals

Shimron Hetmyer has been the dedicated finisher for Rajasthan Royals this season and has the best strike rate + average combo than all the other batters this season. With a strike rate of 159.25, the West Indies batter has maintained an average of 50.16 despite batting in the death overs for most of the tournament. 

The batter has batted in 13 innings till now in the season and has registered 301 runs to his name with 19 fours & 21 sixes. Even though the Hetmyer has only smacked one fifty+ score in the season, the batter has remained not out in 7 innings out of 13. 

Due to Rajasthan Royals losing almost all the coin tosses, the finisher hasn't been able to showcase his finishing skills in a chase, barring one match against SRH where he smacked an unbeaten 31 runs in 16 deliveries with 3 fours & 2 sixes as RR chased down a target of 190 runs in 19.4 overs. 

His best knock of 59*came against Lucknow Super Giants in the 20th match. The top 4 batters of Rajasthan failed to cross the 30 run mark. Hetmyer came on to bat in the 10th over when the scoreboard read just 64 runs and held the crease as he smacked 59 runs in 36 deliveries with a four & 6 sixes as he powered Royals to 165/6 in 20 overs, remaining not out. RR went on to win by 3 runs as Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 4 wickets. 

5. Shivam Dube

Shivam Dube was a positive aspect for four-time champions Chennai Super Kings who otherwise had a disastrous season, finishing 9th on the points table with 10 losses in 14 matches. 

In the 11 matches played, Dube registered 289 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 156.21. The 28-year old Southpaw scored 2 fifties in the season along with a knock of 49 runs. 

After CSK were put in to bat first in the 22nd match of IPL 2022 by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Robin Uthappa scored 88 runs off 50 deliveries while Shivam Dube, batting at #4, played an unbeaten knock of 96 runs in just 46 deliveries with 5 fours & 8 sixes. 

Interestingly, CSK had lost the first two wickets on 36 runs in the 7th over, Dube etched a massive partnership of 165 runs in 74 deliveries for the 3rd wicket. Chennai went on to win the match by 23 runs to register their first win in IPL 2022. 

Dube's second-highest score in IPL 2022 came against Punjab Kings in the 11th match, where CSK were chasing a total of 181 to win. However, the defending champions got off to a terrible start, losing the first four wickets for just 23 runs in the 6th over. Shivam Dube came out to bat at #6, and held one end till the 15th over, getting dismissed on a team total of 98 runs. 

Also Read: IPL 2022 - Scorecard

Chennai Super Kings went on to lose the match by 54 runs as they were restricted to 126 runs in 18 overs. Only 3 CSK batters were able to cross the double-digit mark apart from Dube - Uthappa (13), Rayudu (13) & MS Dhoni (23).