IPL: 5 players who were a hit last year but have failed in this season so far

“GameBanayegaName”- The theme for the 2019 edition of IPL perfectly describes this season so far. Players like Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Jason Behrendorff and Alzarri Joseph playing for the first time, have announced themselves in style and are already becoming a household name in India with some match-winning performances.

Among all these exciting new players there are some who performed brilliantly last year but have failed so far this season. A year can be a long time in a competitive sport like cricket and we have witnessed a lot of one-season wonders in IPL history. Though it is still early days and the under-performing players would be eager to turn it around as the season progresses.

Here we bring you five players who did well last year but have struggled so far:

1. Ambati Rayudu (CSK)

Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson were the key pioneers last year for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and played a major role in their title triumph last year. Ambati Rayudu had a prolific season in 2018 where he scored 602 runs in 16 innings with an average of above 40 and finished 4th in the Orange Cap race. He was also recalled to the Indian side after an impressive IPL season and is among the few batsmen fighting for the No. 4 slot in the coming World Cup.

But the 2019 IPL season has gone horribly wrong for Rayudu so far. He has scored just 55 runs in 5 matches with a poor strike rate of just around 78. After consecutive failures as an opener, he batted at No. 4 in the last game against Kings XI Punjab and finally looked in some form with an unbeaten 21 runs in 15 balls. If CSK are to repeat their last year performance and defend the title for a record fourth time they will need the southpaw to come good in the remaining matches.

2. Andrew Tye (KXIP)

With 24 wickets in 14 matches, Andrew Tye was the leading wicket-taker in the 2018 edition of the IPL. His “knuckle ball” and “cutters” were too good for the batsmen and with many impressive performances, he became the go-to bowler for Kings XI last year. With his clever pace variations, Tye became an extremely reliable slog-overs bowler for the Punjab team. He completely justified the Rs 7.2 Crore bid in the auctions by bagging the Purple Cap last year.

Andrew Tye has somewhat faded away after that. He has been in and out of the Australian team and was eventually dropped from the ODI side last year after a poor outing against the English team. He came to the 2019 season of IPL with some form in the Big Bash League (BBL) where he was back among the wickets.

But Tye has failed miserably in the three matches he has played so far. He has been leaking more than 9 runs per over and has just picked two wickets till now. With just four foreign players allowed in the side, the Western Australian needs a game-changing performance very soon to keep his place in the team.

3. Umesh Yadav (RCB)

With 20 wickets to his name, Umesh Yadav was the fourth highest wicket-taker last season and was among the few positives for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that finished 6th on the points table. With his pace and revamped accuracy, the fast bowler was lethal with the new ball in the power play and gave early breakthroughs to his team in almost every match. He was also back in the limited-overs format for the Indian team and was seen perfect for the third seamer’s role in the Indian team.

Come the IPL though, barring the game against the Mumbai Indians where he picked two wickets, Umesh Yadav is having a bad IPL so far. In his last two matches, he had figures of 7.5-0-87-0 and was eventually dropped from the side in their last match against the KKR. The Vidarbha bowler will definitely look to make a comeback in the coming matches.

4. Sunil Narine (KKR)

Sunil Narine shined with both bat and ball last season and was instrumental in helping the KKR team reaching the playoffs. He scored 357 runs in 16 innings mostly while opening the batting with a mighty strike rate of 189. His power hitting at the top allowed the other batsman in the team to take their time and not worry about the run rate.

He also picked 17 wickets with the ball and was the joint-highest wicket taker from the KKR side. He provided the balance to the KKR team with his all-round skills and had some match-winning performances to his name.

This year though there have been some injury issues with Narine and it is clearly visible in his poor showings. He has just picked a single wicket in three matches and has leaked runs at an economy of 9.4 runs per over. He has also failed to impress with the bat thus far and his injury might have been the reason behind it. Th Caribbean has been a seasoned T20 campaigner and will look to gain his form back for the rest of the tournament.

5. Kuldeep Yadav (KKR)

Kuldeep Yadav has played a major role in reviving the “Chinaman” art out of its grave along with bowlers like Tabraiz Shamsi. He is known for his ability to deceive the batsman in the air and his devious ability to use the width of the crease. He has been the leading spinner for the KKR side in the past few years and has also established himself as the leading spinner in the Indian limited overs side.

Kuldeep picked up 17 wickets last year and was the joint-highest wicket taker from the KKR side. He along with Sunil Narine and Piyush Chawla formed an impressive trio of spin bowling and won some close matches for their team.

This year though the youngster has failed to perform consistently and has picked 3 wickets with an economy of just close to 9 runs per over. He hasn’t performed too badly but the KKR management and fans will expect much more from their leading spinner in the rest of the tournament.

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