The Indian Premier League (IPL) has had some illustrious “guest” players from other countries throughout its already 13-edition history.
Lasith Malinga, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, David Warner, Kieron Pollard, Mike Hussey … they are stats-based heavyweights of the glitzy tournament, the 14th version of which kicked off in Chennai on Friday, and it has also been a home at varying times for other international icons like Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Kumar Sangakkara, Shane Warne, Albie Morkel, Jacques Kallis and a host of others.
But then there’s a certain AB de Villiers: “Modern genius … has it all” in the words immediately ahead of game one (against Mumbai Indians) of renowned English commentator Mark Nicholas.