Ben Laughlin

A right-arm fast-medium bowler, emerged from Australia’s Victoria to make his domestic debut in the 2008-09 season to stamp his class right away and soon fast-tracked into the national team. Debuted to Australia at the age of 27 years, Ben Laughlin played a handful of limited-overs games in his debut season and then played two more T20Is in 2013, before getting dropped from the national side and hasn’t represented them since then.

Laughlin was contracted by Queensland in his debut season during the Pura Cup to feature in 11 games and gather 23 wickets in them. Thereafter, played a couple of Sheffield Shield games, including the drawn decider, that season. Two years later, the pacer struggled after getting struck down by a painful stomach injury that restricted him to six state games. 

However, in a short span, he gained the reputation of a limited-overs specialist, especially in T20 cricket. Emerging in an era when franchise leagues were starting to buzz, Laughlin earned the most out of it. He has been one of the top picks in the IPL and CPL apart from the BBL in Australia. Laughlin represented Hobart Hurricanes from 2011-14 before being contracted to Adelaide Strikers to become a veteran for them. 

The Australian bowler was one of the top five wicket-takers in the 2017-18 Big Bash League. Laughlin claimed 16 wickets including a best of 4/26 for the Adelaide Strikers. Over the years, the Australian has also provided his services to teams like Guyana Amazon Warriors, Antigua Hawksbills, Canterbury, Northern Districts, Quetta Gladiators. 

The Victoria-born was bought by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2018 auction and earlier has also been part of the Chennai Super Kings and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. Laughlin, who relies on accuracy and variations, as came to the fag-end of his career, has developed his off-cutter slower ball variation because of his time spent bowling off-spin early in his career. 

Laughlin is also nicknamed "death bowler". In 2020, he played the Road Safety World Series, where he represented Australia Legends in a solitary T20 game. Laughlin might have played his last first-class and List-A game in the 2013 season, but the pacer is still a regular feature for his T20 clubs. 

(As of April 2021)