IPL: Most underutilised XI in the history of the tournament

With the Indian Premier League being the world’s biggest T20 tournament, the supply of players has always been overwhelming which in many ways has also resulted in excessive stacking of players by the IPL franchises.

While this excessive stacking arrangement might become a paramount yield in case of the events of injuries or withdrawals, most times it mainly causes underutilization of the available talent. Often in the IPL, the teams which are well stacked with the presence of elites do face this problem of underuse, especially, when it’s about their healthy overseas contingent.

Overall, even the envoys of the T20 format have been found as underutilized by the IPL franchises thus eventually making it an obnoxious feature of the league.

Hence, by exploring IPL’s long haul history, here’s our most underutilized XI of the league

1. Ajinkya Rahane (MI)

Being the local boy for MI, Ajinkya Rahane had initially started his IPL career with his home franchise and was part of the setup till IPL 2009. At that time, Rahane was vigorously seen climbing up the ladder in the domestic circuit and had eventually found a place in MI’s squad for the inaugural season.

However, despite the team getting plagued with injuries, Rahane could only fetch two games for himself without making any mark. Nevertheless, because of his good technique, Rahane was then again brought back for 8 games in IPL 2009 but the rookie could only amass 144 runs at an average of 24.

The IPL 2010 season then brought the unleashing of Ambati Rayudu in MI camp which eventually wobbled out Ajinkya Rahane from the team. However, his lofty pile of runs in domestic cricket had always allured other franchises thereby making Rajasthan Royals bag him in IPL 2011.

Overall, with RR casting him in the top-order, Rahane’s stint with the franchise turned out to be the glory years of his IPL career something which MI had missed. All in all, by merely making him juggle with his batting position, the MI team had not only underutilized Ajinkya Rahane but also lost him at a time when he was in the national team’s reckoning as well.