Since its inaugural year back in 2008, the Indian Premier League has been bringing together some of the world’s best T20 cricketers.
2023 will mark the 15th year of the lucrative competition, and excitement is already heating up ahead of what promises to be another exhilarating campaign.
The Gujarat Titans enter the tournament as reigning champions. They stunned the Rajasthan Royals in the final to lift the famous trophy, a feat made all the more impressive considering that 2022 was the first year that the Titans competed as a fully-fledged franchise.
During last year’s offseason, which can end up being somewhat like the lotteries found on Joe Fortune’s online casino, the champions brought in Indian stars Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill, both of whom were crucial to the team’s success.
They weren’t as crucial as English wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler however. He smashed 863 runs for the Rajasthan Royals en route to last year’s final and picked up the coveted MVP award in the process.
He is the current favourite to retain the prize this term and has had a stellar year with England, leading them to the T20 World Cup in Australia last winter.
After a thrilling tournament, the IPL Most Valuable Player award is presented to the player that has had the most impact on their team. Let’s take a look at who won each MVP award over the last five seasons and see how they performed!
2015 – Andre Russell, Kolkata Knight Riders
The 2015 MVP was Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell from Kolkata Knight Riders. His performances with both bat and ball were crucial for his team, picking up 26 wickets, with an economy rate of 8 runs per over, and also managing to score 317 runs in 16 innings with a strike rate of 183.
He also hit 11 sixes in one of his best innings against Chennai Super Kings in which he scored 48 off just 19 deliveries.
Together with Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy and Robin Uthappa’s batting performance, Andre Russell helped KKR reach the playoffs where they eventually lost to Mumbai Indians.
2016 – Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore
The 2016 winner was none other than Indian cricket’s biggest superstar, Virat Kohli, who was turning out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made a total of 973 runs at an incredible average of 81 hitting four centuries in the process.
That season he broke Chris Gayle’s record for most runs scored in a single IPL season as well as Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most fifties scored in a single season.
Despite his outstanding performance RCB failed to make it to the playoffs that year due to their poor bowling attack.
2017 – Ben Stokes, Rising Pune Supergiant
The 2017 winner was English all-rounder Ben Stokes from Rising Pune Supergiant. His outstanding performances with both bat and ball helped RPS reach the finals where they faced Mumbai Indians.
Unfortunately, however, they would lose the grand final by just one run despite Stokes’ batting heroics, where he smashed 103 runs off 63 balls.
In that same season, he managed to pick up 12 wickets at an economy rate of 8 runs per over while also scoring 316 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 145.
2018 – Sunil Narine, Kolkata Knight Riders
This time around it was KKR spinner Sunil Narine who won MVP honors for 2018 after helping them to the playoffs by taking 17 wickets with an economy rate of 6 runs per over. He also scored 324 runs at a strike rate of 177 throughout the tournament.
KKR couldn’t pick up their second IPL crown, however. They were beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2.
They too wouldn’t go on to glory. They lost to the Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in the grand final, leaving MS Dhoni and co. side to celebrate their third IPL success.
2019 – Andre Russell, Kolkata Knight Riders
The 2019 winner was once again Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell from KKR who repeated his performances from 2015 but this time around he managed to help his side missed out on the playoffs courtesy of having a worse net run rate than Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Throughout the tournament, he took 18 wickets at an economy rate of 7 per over as well as hitting 510 runs at an unbelievable strike rate of 204.
He scored seven fifties along with three centuries including one unbeaten 88 off 36 balls against the Sunrisers which earned him the man of the match honors.
2020 – Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals
English pace bowler Jofra Archer took home the MVP prize in 2020. He took 20 wickets at an economy rate of 6.55 runs per over.
He was by far the most disciplined bowler in the tournament that year, topping that season’s economy charts by some distance.
His performances were even more impressive considering that the rest of his team faltered, somehow conspiring to finish bottom of the table despite having the league’s best bowler.
2021 – Harshal Patel, Royal Challengers Bangalore
And finally, the 2021 winner of the MVP award was Indian medium-pace bowler Harshal Patel. He took the most wickets in the tournament with 32, some eight wickets more than the second-placed Avesh Khan.
His performances weren’t enough to catapult his team to a maiden IPL title however as they were knocked out in the playoffs by the Kolkata Night Riders.