5 Associate cricketers who deserve to play in the IPL

#5 Paul Stirling

Stirling is one of Ireland’s most explosive batsmen

One of Ireland’s best players, Paul Stirling deserves to ply his trade in the Indian Premier League. The 25-year old is an extremely aggressive batsman who you could say is Ireland’s version of Virender Sehwag who always goes for the big hit right from ball one.

Stirling has been an equally good bowler whose off-spin has frequently fetched wickets for him as well. At present, Stirling is Ireland’s second highest run scorer and their joint eighth highest wicket-taker in T20Is.

The enigmatic opener first came into recognition when he scored a match-winning century off just 70 deliveries against the Netherlands at the 2011 World Cup. he helped Ireland win the 2012 ICC World T20 qualifier, ending the tournament as the highest run scorer.

Stirling impressed again in the qualifiers of the following the T20 World Cup as well, being the third highest run getter and picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of only 5.58 as Ireland retained their title. One of his most notable T20 performances, in fact, came in that qualifier.

In a group game against Hong Kong, Stirling scored an impressive 77 off just 46 balls and returned with bowling figures of 4-10 to set up a comprehensive win for Ireland. The swashbuckling batsman's most crucial T20 innings came against Zimbabwe at the 2014 world t20 where he hit 60 off just 34 balls in Ireland's successful chase.