Top 10 Flop cricketers of the year 2015

The year of 2015 was a great one for the game of cricket and the cricket fans all around the world. The year kicked off with teams gearing up for the World Cup and then playing the mega-event down under. It was studded with two double centuries, by Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle, and we saw some remarkable spells of bowling by Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Wahab Riaz, Mitchell Starc and many others. The emergence of young guns like Kagiso Rabada and Mustafizur Rahman was a treat to watch. While there is a list of positives for the year, there are a few negatives or flops as they call it, too. Some of the big names failed to deliver and live up to the expectations and had a poor run this year. Here are the top 10 flop cricketers of the year 2015: 1. Luke Ronchi (New Zealand): Luke Ronchi of New Zealand. (Photo by Mitchell Gunn/Getty Images) The Kiwi wicketkeeper started the year with a high as he hit a brilliant 170 off 99 balls in an ODI against Sri Lanka in January. But that remained to be his only fruitful ODI innings of this year. In the other 28 ODIs that he played this year, he could score just 247 runs. Kudos to his 170, that makes his stats look respectable with 417 runs in 29 ODIs at an average of 21.94 in 2015. T20Is wasn’t great either for the former Australian player, as he could manage 45 runs in 4 matches. The saving grace, perhaps, was his only Test that he played this year and scored 88 against England. 2. Ravindra Jadeja (India): Ravindra Jadeja. (© IDI via Getty Images) Many fans would be disappointed to see this name in the list. But here are the stats that define his poor run in the year 2015. Jadeja represented India in 12 ODIs this year with his highest score being 32. He could amass just 113 runs with an average of 16.14 and wasn’t at his best for sure. His bowling average was even worse, when it came to ODIs. He averaged 49.50 in the 12 matches that he played and could pick up just 10 wickets. However, he struck form in the later part of the year and was highly effective in the Ranji Trophy and also played a key role for India’s 3-0 Test series win over South Africa. Playing in 4 games, he picked 23 wickets. Now that is a sigh of relief! 3. Ahmed Shehzad (Pakistan): Ahmed Shehzad. (Photo Source: AFP) Tipped to be Pakistan’s future batting star, Ahmed Shehzad, had a poor 2015. Shehzad played in 3 Tests this year and could only manage 143 runs at an average of 28.60, which is quite low for a top order batsman. The ODIs were not great either as his average was just over 33 in 2015. He could not hit a single century. The batting average fell even lower in T20Is with 22.11 in 9 matches where he scored 199 runs. He was one of the top flops for the year 2015 and we hope that the young man strikes gold in 2016. 4. Umar Akmal (Pakistan): Umar Akmal. (Photo Source: AFP) Pakistan’s wicketkeeper Umar Akmal had a rough run in the year 2015. He did not play any Test matches this year, but his performances in the limited overs were far from impressive. Akmal played in 9 ODIs this year to muster just 181 runs with a low average of 22.62. He had a tasteless year in T20 cricket as he played 9 T20Is and managed to score just 162 runs at an average of 20.25. He couldn’t score a single 50 in T20Is this year with his best being 46. His keeping was poor too as he could not hold on to catches on quite a few occasions. He has no stumpings to his name this year. 5. Denesh Ramdin (West Indies): (Photo Source: Associated Press) West Indian wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin couldn’t impress the cricket world in 2015. Having played 10 Tests this year, Ramdin could manage just 320 runs at an average of 17.77. Though his keeping looked bright, his batting form dipped during the year. He played 3 T20Is to score 43 runs which had a best of 34*. His 14 ODIs saw him score 253 runs, but that certainly wasn’t enough as he averaged a mere 23. 6. Suresh Raina (India): Suresh Raina. (Photo Source: BCCI) The mainstay of the Indian middle and lower order batting, Suresh Raina had a terrible run in 2015. When there was a lot of expectation were on him, he could not deliver. His international exploits were heavily under the scanner this year. His only Test match this year yielded a duck for him. Although Raina hit a vital 110* against Zimbabwe in the World Cup, his performances otherwise were disappointing. In the 20 ODIs that he played this year, the southpaw scored 517 runs with an average of 32.31. Twenty20, which is supposedly his forte, saw him muster just 36 runs in 2 innings against South Africa towards the end of the year. The person who could have ruled the roost this year finds himself among the top flops of the year 2015. 7. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India): (Photo Source: BCCI) The young promising swing bowler from India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar could not live up to the big expectations of his fans this year. He played just one Test and bowled with an average of 168! He picked up just one wicket. Bhuvi, who has an ODI bowling average of 9.76, bowled with an average of 36.06 this year. He played 13 ODIs to pick up 16 wickets. His T20I performances were poorer as he could pick just 2 wickets in 4 matches with an average of 50.50. Comparing this with his usual T20I average, that is 7.50, this year was certainly not the best for him. 8. Michael Clarke (Australia): (© Getty Images) Michael Clarke did win the World Cup for Australia with his effective leadership, but the former Aussie skipper could not capitalize on his personal records this year. Clarke played 7 ODIs and could cross the 50-run mark just twice. His average in 2015 shrunk down to 36.50 as against his career average of 44.58. In the 7 Tests that he played, he scored at an average of as low as 21.10 mustering 211 runs. For a batsman who has a Test career average of almost 50, this performance was certainly a flop show. 9. Thisara Perera (Sri Lanka): Thisara Perera. (Photo Source: AFP) The Sri Lanka all-rounder concluded the year with a good season of Bangladesh Premier League but his national team duties were not fruitful at all. Perera had dismal T20I outings as he scored just 3 runs in 2 matches and picked 3 wickets with an economy close to 9. The ODIs saw him perform miserably too as he could muster 117 runs in 17 matches at an average of meager 10.63. The wickets column too saw a drought as he could pick only 12 wickets at an average of 58.23. By and large, he had the disappointing year 2015 and was one of the biggest flops this year. 10. Mitchell Johnson (Australia): (© Getty Images) The former Australia left-armer recently retired from all forms of the game due to his poor form as he said. Although he had a reasonably good start to the year, his bowling started to fall apart. His last Test saw him pick up 2 wickets on a pitch where other seamers like Starc were wreaking havoc. He had a poor season of the IPL too as batsmen treated him with no mercy. Johnson played in 9 ODIs scoring 34 runs and picked 18 wickets. The 9 Tests that he played in saw him scoring 197 runs at an average of 16.41 and he returned with just 30 wickets at an average of 33.76. For a bowler of his stature, who has a career bowling average of 22.20 in Tests and 16.11 in ODIs, the year was certainly a flop. Eventually Johnson announced retirement from international cricket.

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Top 10 Flop cricketers of the year 2015

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