IPL 2019: Five International captains who failed in the tournament

With the elections and the ICC World Cup looming around, the Indian Premier League (IPL) finds itself in a precarious situation as it stands. The tournament is all set to be conducted outside the country due to the Lok Sabha elections but with many major players missing due to World Cup commitments, it seems highly likely that the competition will miss a lot of its flair. On the brighter picture, some young cricketers will get a great chance to put themselves in the pressure cooker environment and maybe, the tournament might serve its true cricketing purpose. The auction for the 12th edition will be taking place in Jaipur on December 18th. Although the International players have been a major attraction for the IPL historically, not all the overseas signings have been successful. The fans were left disappointed when few of biggest names in the fraternity, who also had experience of leading their respective countries, failed to put up a good show in the league. Here we bring you five international captains who failed miserably in the IPL: 5. Michael Clarke Michael Clarke. (Photo Source: Twitter) An absolute legend of the game, Michael Clarke remained under the shadow of Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and others for a major part of his career. But once they all departed, he took charge as the captain and showed the cricketing world why he qualifies as one of the very greats of the game. Many fans might not even remember Clarke playing in the IPL as his term was very brief and forgettable. He was roped into the Pune Warriors India side in 2012, but he got to play only six matches, where he registered 98 runs. After 2012, the former Aussie skipper never featured in the IPL and evenally retired from the game. For a player of his stature, to have missed out on performing in this league was a staggering shocker. 4. Angelo Mathews Angelo Mathews. (Photo Source: Twitter) Angelo Mathews has been featuring in IPL from a fairly long time and has managed to attract huge bids ranging as high as Rs. 9 Crore. But the former Sri Lankan captain never lived up to the price tags either due to his poor performances or due to injuries. The all-rounder represented Kolkata Knight Riders, Pune Warriors India and Delhi Daredevils, failing to make his mark in all these teams. In his 49-match career, he mustered just 724 runs, which is way below his standards. With the ball, he picked up 27 wickets at an average almost touching 40. He will be part of the auction even this time and it remains to be seen if any team shows interest in him. 3. Darren Sammy Darren Sammy. (Photo Source: Twitter) Windies cricket brags of a glorious history and Darren Sammy holds a pretty phenomenal place in it. He and Clive Lloyd are the only cricketers to have captained Windies to ICC silverware as the entertaining all-rounder helped his Windies side lift two T20 World Cups in 2012 and 2016. Despite all the great numbers, he featured in the IPL for the first time in 2013. After spending two years with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, he also was roped into Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. He registered 241 runs with the bat and 11 wickets with the ball in the 22 games he played and failed to make a telling impact which one would remember for a long time. 2. Sourav Ganguly Sourav Ganguly. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images) A cult legend of Indian cricket, Sourav Ganguly arguably is one of the finest leaders this game has come across. When Kolkata Knight Riders announced that he would be captaining their franchise, the excitement in the Garden city was resonating. All the infectiously high expectations were not met when the tournament eventually started, which led to the club sacking him in 2010. He then joined Pune Warriors India for a brief stint, which didn’t provide any glimpses of the great man we saw representing India. In 59 IPL matches, he scored 1,349 runs at an average of 25.45 and a mediocre strike-rate of 105. It clearly wasn’t his cup of tea and his IPL career only makes us wonder what if he had succeeded. 1. Ricky Ponting Ricky Ponting. (Photo by Qamar Sibtain/India Today Group/Getty Images) The Aussie dynamite who redefined the art of leadership in the early 21st century, Ricky Ponting’s mighty Aussies still haunt many cricketers in their dreams. It was a team filled with superstars but the way Ponting managed to be the leader of that pack with such subtlety showcases how dynamic a captain he was. The first thing people remember when they talk about Ponting’s IPL career is the moment when he came out to open with Sachin Tendulkar in 2013. Despite providing some unforgettable moments, his T20 career never kicked off neither did his IPL career. The two time World cup winning captain amassed just 91 runs in 10 matches in the world’s most lucrative cricket league.

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IPL 2019: Five International captains who failed in the tournament

Although the International players have been a major attraction for the tournament, not all the overseas signings have been successful.

2. Sourav Ganguly

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