IPL 2018: Big hits last year, flops this time!

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most unpredictable cricket tournaments. As a player, as a viewer, you can never be certain about what is to come. While it turns to fortunes around for a few players, it ends out to be disastrous for the others. Players who sometimes have a terrific previous season do not replicate the same kind of success next year. It is also vice-versa for a few as they end up completely turning around the tables when there are literally no expectations on them.

This kind of a situation could also be seen this year. A few of the players who were big hits last year turned out to be flops thus far. They couldn’t really get going and failed to live up to the expectations. Here is the list of players who failed miserably this year after having a great season last time:

1. Gautam Gambhir | Delhi Daredevils

Gautam Gambhir has been the centre of all the talks ever since he stepped down as the skipper of the side. Ahead of the season, GG decided to part ways with his old franchise Kolkata Knight Riders as he wanted to represent the Delhi Daredevils. It was expected that his combination with Ricky Ponting could turn the fortunes around for Delhi Daredevils. However, that wasn’t the case as Gambhir failed with the bat and couldn’t get the team up and running. He lost five out of six matches before he decided to step down.

Gautam had a terrific season last year both as the skipper and batsman. He was inspirational last year and managed to take KKR to the playoffs. In 2017, Gambhir piled up 498 runs in 16 games at an average of 41.5 and strike rate just over 128. Although he was expected to carry similar form into 2018, he failed to do so. He only managed to score 85 runs in 6 games which included the highest score of 55. His average to a dip as it fell down to 17 and his strike rate under 100.