No. 10, Dwayne Bravo....No. 8, Kieron Pollard

No. 8, Kieron Pollard

Pollard was labelled a mercenary early in his career but will be remembered as a pioneer. Raised by a single mother on a Trinidad housing estate, he has earned tens of millions of dollars in T20 leagues, winning more than a dozen trophies - including five IPLs - and setting countless records along the way.Pollard was not without his vulnerabilities: teams often targeted him with either bouncers or legspin, and MS Dhoni came up with the idea of posting a fielder directly behind the bowler in a bid to counter his straight-hitting.Yet his record should make clear that, more often than not, he found a way to counter whatever teams threw at him: of the 16 men with more than 10,000 T20 runs, Pollard is the only one to maintain an average above 30 and a strike rate above 150. Incredibly, in a career of nearly 700 games, Pollard has hit more sixes (90 than fours (842).

Career high: Mumbai Indians needed 55 off 18 balls when Pollard finally emerged at No. 8 in his first IPL final, in 2010, and their bizarre strategic decision to hold him back so late cost them. Three years later he made amends against the same opposition, Chennai Super Kings, walking out at 52 for 4, then blitzing a match-winning unbeaten 60 off 32 balls. It was the first of Pollard's five IPL titles.

No. 10, Dwayne Bravo

A fluid blur of limbs, floating through the crease with rare balance and agility, showcasing the lithe athleticism of your typical West Indian fast bowler. But Bravo's genius lay in what happened next. Who could begin to second-guess his output as that magical whirring arm reached its apex, and the random-number generator kicked in? One minute, he'd be hurrying his quarry for pace with a 135kph bail-trimmer; the next, he'd cut the motor early and splut a 100kph powderpuff yorker through those same bamboozled defences. All of it done with a smile, an aeroplane-armed celebration, and as often as not, a "Champion" dance too. In a box-office format, DJ Bravo was T20's original action hero.

Bravo did what he does for so long that he went from defying categorisation to defining the terms by which his successors will be judged. He was a good enough batter to make two Test hundreds in Australia, and yet his place in history will be determined by his endeavours between overs 17 and 20 of the T20 format, in which period he claimed 322 of his 631 career wickets (comfortably a record) and scored 2972 of his 6970 runs (at a strike-rate of 167), which underlined his mastery of that most fraught period of the game.

Career high: For all his success abroad, Bravo's pleasure in bringing his glory back home was self-evident, not least when he captained Trinbago Knight Riders to back-to-back CPL titles in 2017 and 2018.

Pollard T20 factfile
Matches: 594
Runs: 11,968
Strike rate: 152.42
Wickets: 284
Econ: 8.23
PotM awards: 40
Titles: 19
Standout stat: He has hit 108 sixes in the death overs in the CPL, the most among all players; in the IPL, his 127 sixes at the death is second to MS Dhoni's 175

Bravo T20 factfile
Matches: 491
Runs: 5715
Strike rate: 128
Wickets: 553
Econ: 8.29
PotM awards: 30
Titles: 17
Standout stat: Across the BBL, BPL, CPL and IPL, Bravo has taken 221 wickets in the death overs (17-20), almost twice as many as the next-best (Andre Russell, 115)

In reply to sgtdjones

So, are the IPL and T20 leagues the ultimate goal for rating cricketers?

I have never been interested in what anyone earns, but performance made me a fan.
Neither Bravo, Pollard, nor Russell showed any greatness during the World Cups, which is the goal of most top performers.

In reply to openning

Say what you want there were always some great cricketers in the IPL all competing against each other,fiercely at that.You can't diminish the achievements of those who have made it big in T/20 leagues,by saying Bravo,Pollard nor Russell showed any greatness during the WCs.
Take a look at football league players playing for their countries,same problem.