IPL 2020: Flop XI of the first two weeks

2. Quinton de Kock (MI)

The incumbent skipper of the South African national team, De Kock headed into the IPL 2020 with strong international form behind him. Across his limited appearances in T20I matches this year, de Kock boasts of a respectable average of 34.66 with two half-centuries to his name in the ongoing IPL. 

More importantly, it was his stellar strike rate of 182.45 which really caught the attention of Mumbai Indians (MI) fans. Quinton, playing aggressively at the top, would allow captain Rohit Sharma to take his time at the start, which, subsequently, would allow him the play the long-innings and provide a strong finish at the death. MI did use a roughly similar opening formula to much success last season, so fans were quite excited to see a repeat of the Rohit-de Kock opening blitz. 

But that excitement hasn’t been rewarded thus far, primarily due to de Kock’s uninspiring form. The southpaw has blown hot and cold across his 4 appearances, accumulating just 48 runs from his outings. His poor shot selection has quite been responsible for his unimpressive showing. It’s unlikely that MI will address the situation just yet, but they do have the explosive Chris Lynn warming their benches should things get dire in this IPL.