IPL 2020: Flop XI of the first two weeks

8. Krishnappa Gowtham (KXIP)

Pundits had much-hyped Gowtham, the promising Karnataka all-rounder, for adding a much-needed all-round balance to the new-look KXIP team. But as has been the general theme of this team- Gowtham’s performances so far have been quite contrary to his reputation. 

Gowtham featured in both Punjab’s first and last (at the time of writing) games as the second-spinner, partnering the young Haryana leggie, Ravi Bishnoi. The latter’s natural tendency to pitch the ball up, and lure batsmen in for mishits would’ve been well complemented by Gowtham’s tight, accuracy oriented off-spin bowling. 

But as it turned out, Gowtham was the bowler batsmen decided to target in the IPL. The likes of Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Kieron Pollard were able to time their shots to his slow-paced bowling and collect crisp boundaries. Gowtham’s current bowling tally features just a solitary wicket at a disappointing average of 84. 

Batting wise, he did manage to score some crucial, NRR-saving runs against MI. But his inability to keep the scoring rate at check hasn’t been a major inconvenience for Punjab.