IPL 2019: Under-performers XI

The 2019 season of the IPL is over but the excitement and the emotion circling the tournament still remains. The entire season was about the ups and downs and the animation that came about in between. While power-hitters like Andre Russell and Rishabh Pant stole the show, the bowlers in the likes of Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada and Deepak Chahar produced wonderful performances acting as the backbones of their respective teams.

But as each season has its own story to tell, this season too stood out with its different colours separating it from the rest of the seasons. While there were so many positives, so many emerging talents and some really shocking performances, there were some players who disappointed in this season in a big way. Either due to their previous performances which were extremely good or because there was a lot of hope as to how well they would perform.

Here is a list of those XI players, who have given wonderful performances in the previous seasons or a lot was being expected of them in this edition, but have seemed to be out of touch throughout IPL 12:

1. Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians)

The captain of IPL 2019 champions, Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma hasn’t stood out as a batsman at any point in the tournament. We all know how Malinga and his captain carried the last delivery of the season which won them the title. Despite a massive season for the Mumbai Indians and Rohit being a brilliant tactful captain, he certainly in his best form with the willow. Something that we usually expect from a batsman of his repute and stature.

Except for that one match-winning knock (48-ball 67) by the ‘Hitman’ wherein the Mumbai Indians bulldozed over the Chennai Super Kings in a league clash, Rohit was pretty much ordinary and a sidekick to Quinton de Kock, who did more gloriously. In the entire tournament, the Mumbai skipper only produced two fifty-plus scores.

Not to forget, he’s the only IPL captain with four championship titles and the one with most Man of the Match awards to his name among Indian cricketers in the T20 league. However, in this season he has amassed 405 runs at an average below 30, which is low to his stature and especially for a star opening batsman.

2. Prithvi Shaw (Delhi Capitals)

Prithvi Shaw, who got his big break last year when he got a Test call-up to play for India, is considered to be a huge treasure of talent. So much, that comparisons were being drawn with the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, due to his impeccable talent at such a young age. But his ongoing IPL season hasn’t helped in proving the worth of the 19-year-old in question. Sure, he was close to scoring a hundred when smashed a 55-ball 99 against KKR in the first week of the season, but his technical weaknesses were exposed pretty soon.

While he completely failed to leave an overall mark, his strike rate also took a steep fall as the bowlers started delivering at the zones that were clearly out of comfort for the youngster. In 16 outings for the Delhi Capitals, their opening batsman could only manage to amass 353 runs a very questionable average of 22.06 and a below part strike rate of 133.71. While it was expected of him to provide a strong foundation to the team, he remained a sidekick to his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who has found his groove ahead of the World Cup.

3. Suresh Raina (Captain) (Chennai Super Kings):

Only once has Suresh Raina played a match-winning inning, when he scored his only fifty of the season — an unbeaten 58* — against the Kolkata Knight Riders, which helped CSK successfully complete the chase. He only scored two more fifties following that. But it’s so unlike Raina, who has been deemed as one of the best in the history of the Indian Premier League. In fact, Raina who is now the second highest scorer in the IPL (overall) became the first to cross the 5000 runs mark early in the 12th edition.

However, RCB skipper Virat Kohli tops the list now. He also underperformed as a captain, having lost both matches he’s led the side in the absence of MS Dhoni. Raina has been the backbone of the CSK team many times and hence a lot is expected of him from the team and the fans. Even though he scored two back to back fifties just ahead of the playoffs after a really bad form, the fact that he has only amassed 383 runs at 23.93 in 17 innings at a disappointing strike rate of 121.97 only weakens his case.

4. Robin Uthappa (Kolkata Knight Riders):

The Karnataka batsman has bagged his T20 records in the past for KKR and also was instrumentals in many triumphs of the franchise has clearly become a liability as he was certainly one of the worst performers of not only the franchise but overall in this season. The 33-year-old Robin Uthappa looked completely out of touch with his batting and often his slow striking caused KKR to lose games.

In proper pressure situations where the team clearly needed some power hitting, Uthappa often scored at a pace less than a run-a-ball. He scored a 20-ball 9 in KKR’s clash against the RCB while chasing a target of 214. Even while batting in the first innings against the Mumbai Indians, he managed to score 40 off 47. Such knocks have raised a lot of criticisms against him, especially from the fans on social media.

But this was so unlike Uthappa, a batsman of high repute since he scored more than 400 runs two IPL seasons for KKR, including 2014 IPL when KKR were champions. This season, the veteran and reliable Uthappa was retained for Rs. 6.4 crores but with only 282 run at 31.33 in 12 innings, it was a huge disappointment for the franchise.

5. Ben Stokes (Rajasthan Royals)

Ben Stokes was early to leave for England, as one of their top players for the World Cup, as the players were summoned by their board ahead of the showpiece event. But it can be said that the low-ranked Rajasthan Royals didn’t miss him much as despite being the costliest of recruits in successive auctions of 2017 and 2018 editions, Stokes disappointed big. He carries a big price tag with him and so he performed huge for the Risign Pune Supergiant in 2017, and so he earned his place with the Royals but his second season has been nothing but a major disappointment and complete waste of money.

He could only manage to amass 123 runs at 20.50 which includes just one 30+ score and even with the ball he could only bag six wickets and bowled at a crazy high economy of 11.22 in the nine matches this season. The RR franchise might rethink about retaining him for the next season, a star all-rounder who contributed nothing but negatives in IPL 12.

6. Vijay Shankar (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Next comes Vijay Shankar, who might have earned a place for himself in India’s 15-man squad for the World Cup, but his IPL performance was rather dismal. Shankar seemed promising for the Men In Blue during their recent encounters, and he also started off well in the IPL 2019 season scoring an unbeaten 40 against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the series opener game. But sadly, that remained his top score at the end of the season as well as the Sunrisers Hyderabad made their exit after entering into the playoffs. If not for Jonny Bairstow and David Warner, the SRH would’ve struggled big in the batting department.

Even after the star opener duo left for their national commitments, Vijay Shankar who is India’s chosen number four in the World Cup only managed a few cameos for the SRH but has failed overall especially he played no key role in any of SRH’s triumphs. He wasn’t given much chance to bowl during the IPL season. As opposed to his ability of scoring runs, he could only manage 244 runs in 14 innings at an average of 20.33 and not anything but an ordinary strike rate.

7. Ambati Rayudu (wk) (Chennai Super Kings)

Ambati Rayudu might not be India’s preferred number four but he has been a steady choice for the Chennai Super Kings for a long time. But as a part of CSK’s failed top-order, Rayudu could do nothing different than Raina or Jadhav. Rayudu took up wicketkeeping duties in the second half of the season for Chennai. His only half-century this season was a 57 that was scored in Chennai’s chase against Rajasthan and he was dismissed leaving his team quite far from the target.

Rayudu has been very critical about his World Cup rejection and losing his place to Vijay Shankar, but his dismal performance only weakens his case. It’s fair to say that Rayudu came too close to his goal but failed to cross the last hurdle and it’s not about his comeback for the national team, but also his run in the IPL. His numbers just speak for his dismal performance as he only managed 282 at 23.50 and less than a run-a-ball strike rate.

8. Kuldeep Yadav (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Kuldeep Yadav is one of the biggest assets in the Indian Cricket team and not only that, in the 2018 edition of the IPL he had performed really well with 17 wickets in 16 games. One of India’s major weapons in the arsenal for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup that starts on May 30, Yadav’s performance in the IPL was highly underwhelming and to a point, shocking.

For a bowler of his stature who has earned immense respect for his talent and is also the frontline spinner of the national, the run has been surely devastating. He was last seen in the 12th edition of the IPL when was in tears during the match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He produced the worst bowling figures by an Indian bowler this IPL season when he conceded 59 runs in four overs while bagging only a single wicket.

Despite having a dismal run in IPL 2019, the RCB had a few positives and one of them was Yuzvendra Chahal who is the partner of Kuldeep Yadav in India’s international setup. It’s saddening to see Kuldeep’s form but he might get it right back ahead of the World Cup. Kuldeep was never picked for a game in this IPL since that game and has only picked up 4 wickets in 9 games.

9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

A lot is expected from someone in the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s stature who has taken the duties of India’s bowling department quite often before Jasprit Bumrah arrived and when Mohammad Shami was away. But this IPL, right ahead of the World cup saw Bhuvi fail in his assigned roles. He might have produced some decent spells, but that’s about it. He gave no outstanding spell for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Even when he was given the role to lead the team in Kane Williamson’s absence in quite a few games, he really looked unsettled with the job.

A good death bowler by repute, which he has earned over the years, Bhuvi has often topped the charts. He has been the Purple Cap winner twice — in 2016 and 2017 seasons. He’s known to be a highly reliable wicket-taking bowler but this season he lacked lustre and specifically failed in his role as a designated wicket-taker. In 15 games he only managed to bag 13 wickets and the 7.81 Economy Rate isn’t great either for his stature.

10. Jaydev Unadkat (Rajasthan Royals)

It was a weird turn of events after Jaydev Unadkat was bought for a whopping 8.4 crore by the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2019 auctions after being released by the franchise. However, just like last season where he turned out to be a big disappointment after having bagged only 11 wickets in 15 matches, this season too has been of lacklustre for the left-arm medium bowler. He rose to fame after he bagged 24 wickets in 12 games in the 2017 season of the IPL but the succeeding seasons has been a low for the bowler and the franchise.

It’s something to wonder about, whether he was but a one-season wonder. He has been extremely expensive in the death overs, the most crucial overs in T20 Cricket. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, he conceded an unforgivable 47 off 18 balls. At the end of the season, as RR finished second last in the points table, Unadkat was only able to bag 10 wickets in 11 games at an Economy Rate of 10.66.

11. Andrew Tye (Kings XI Punjab):

One of the major dips in performance graphs of IPL star performers from the last season was Andrew Tye. The 32-year-old pacer has seen a huge fall over the past year and he’s not considered as T20 specialist anymore. He lost his place as a regular T20I bowler in the Australian side and that reflected in this year’s performance for the KXIP team. From being a regular last season, Tye made it to the playing XI only six times this season.

With 24 wickets in 14 games, Andrew Tye — a master with his speed variations — was the winner of the Purple Cap in IPL 2018. However, this year his weakness has been exposed as the batsmen have cracked his secret bowling code, which is now almost predictable. He leaked runs and was rendered wicketless in three games; in the rest three, he took one wicket each in return for expensive overs. Yes, a total of three wickets in six innings leaking more than 10 runs an over. Tye was definitely one of the major let downs of the season.

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