It is not easy to win championships in cricket, especially IPL which witnesses cut throat competition between teams. It takes a collective effort from all players of a team to lift the coveted trophy. While individual brilliance may help the team win a number of matches, without contributions from each player, it is unlikely that a team can win the tournament.

Usually, when a team does win, the credit goes to the highest run-getter, or wicket-taker or someone who turned matches around single-handedly. But often, those players who stayed in the background, yet did their job match after match are not given enough credit. Like in cinema where the supporting actors are very important to enhance the quality of a movie, in cricket too, the supporting roles need to be played by determined and talented individuals.

There are a number of players who have remained underrated all their careers and not received the adulation and respect they have deserved. The parity in the fame and affection to the top stars and the underrated ones in IPL is even more stark. But even the stars know, without the players who gutsed it out always, punched above their weight, and were ready to face a challenge in every situation, their performances would be meaningless.

Here we look at 3 unsung heroes who played an extremely crucial role in the winning campaigns of their IPL teams:

1. Swapnil Asnodkar (Rajasthan Royals, 2008)

The greatest underdog story till date in the IPL remains that of Rajasthan Royals lifting the trophy in the inaugural season. Almost all teams had dynamic overseas players along with abundant homegrown talent. But if there was one team that lacked the big names and was almost ruled out of contention at the very beginning, that was Rajasthan Royals. But RR proved everyone wrong, as they got on a winning streak in the initial stages of the tournament itself, and then there was no turning back.

Under the astute captaincy of the legendary Shane Warne, despite not having Indian stars at that time, Rajasthan emerged victorious. While that season is remembered for Warne’s brilliance as a captain, the swashbuckling Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson’s all-round excellence, what is not talked about enough is Rajasthan’s solid opening partnership, one half of which was the diminutive yet hard-hitting batsman from Goa, Swapnil Asnodkar.

After trying out a number of opening combinations, Graeme Smith and Asnodkar’s partnership at the top became a permanent feature of the Rajasthan line up. The duo scored 418 runs together at an average of 59.7, highest of the tournament. Asnodkar, who was relatively unknown till then, played free flowing cricket, surprising one and all scoring 311 runs in 9 matches at a strike rate of 133.47, which included a 60 of 34 balls on debut against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Smith and Asnodkar provided the perfect platform for the likes of Watson and Pathan. His performance made people take notice and was even praised by the captain Warne. However, how it happens for a number of players, Swapnil lost form and could never replicate his performance in IPL or domestic cricket and slowly faded away. Nevertheless, his brilliant performance in the inaugural season will always be part of the folklore of Rajasthan’s victory and he surely deserves more credit for being the perfect opener Rajasthan needed.

2. Rajat Bhatia (Kolkata Knight Riders, 2012 and 2014)

Kolkata Knight Riders was perhaps the most hyped team in 2008, with the team being owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and captained by none other than the Prince of Bengal, Sourav Ganguly. Unfortunately, KKR could not live up to the hype. Their fortunes changed when in 2011, Gautam Gambhir took over, and KKR won their first title in 2012. But they did not stop there. They had another fantastic season in 2014, and despite winning just 2 of their first 7 games, they won the title after a 9-match winning streak.

While KKR’s success could be attributed to the big shots like Sunil Narine, their skipper Gambhir and a number of others, a player who doesn’t get enough credit for being the silent assassin in both the seasons is Rajat Bhatia. Bhatia was the man Gambhir would fall back to whenever the team wanted to stem the flow of runs. While his 13 wickets from 17 games in 2012 and 12 wickets from 12 matches in 2014 may not seem extraordinary, he picked them at an economy of just 7.31 and 7.44 respectively.

The most defining statistic for Bhatia in his IPL career is that he bowled 250 overs between 6-15 overs phase of the game, at a mind-boggling economy of 7. Gambhir used him perfectly on the slow pitches of Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the UAE. Bhatia, who is a domestic veteran, would silently go about his job and before the batsmen of the opposition team would realise, he would be done with his quota of 4 overs.

He was also a reliable and experienced individual Gambhir could take advice from as both of them had played together for a number of years for their state team Delhi. Bhatia’s numbers may not have been flawless, and he was no showman, but the gritty and street smart cricketer was as essential a player for KKR in 2012 and 2014 as any.

3. Subramaniam Badrinath (Chennai Super Kings, 2010 and 2011)

Chennai Super Kings, a team which has qualified for the playoffs in every season they have played in, have had a number of superstars in their teams, none bigger than their Thala, former Indian captain, MS Dhoni. Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay were also other prominent Indian names in their batting department in the early years. Chennai established a reputation of playing percentage cricket in the first few years of the IPL.

Amidst the Indian stars and big hitting players like Albie Morkel, there was one man who held the line up together year after year, none more significantly in the two consecutive seasons they won in 2010-2011. The man was Subramaniam Badrinath. He came to be known as the ‘crisis man’ of CSK. While he would be pushed down the order in case they needed big hitters during the final few overs, he would always be sent in the toughest of situations after early wickets fell to prevent a collapse.

And he did his with gumption time and again. He controlled the middle overs for CSK on slow and turning tracks like the Chepauk, which was their home ground. While in the 2010 season, he scored 356 runs in 16 games at an average of 32.36, he bettered his performance in the next season scoring 396 runs in 16 games at a phenomenal average of 56.57, and stayed unbeaten 6 times.

Badrinath was someone who didn’t play flashy strokes and never hogged the limelight. He was happy to do what he could do the best, rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard ticking. Despite not being a hitter, in the 2011 season he scored at a healthy strike rate of 126.51. He was the perfect foil to the likes of Dhoni and Raina, and it is certain that without Badrinath’s contribution, CSK would not have been able to be as successful as they are today.