A look at the below-par performers who came into IPL 2020 with a lot of expectations.
IPL 2020 was conducted following plenty of safety regulations, COVID-19 protocols, and empty stadiums but with a lot of excitement in the UAE. Cricket fans were waiting for their favorite superstars to set the stage ablaze and most of them delivered.
Six batsmen scored over 500 runs and 8 bowlers picked 20 or more wickets in the 60-match tournament. The competition ended up being one of the most closely contested tournaments with the 6 teams from the third spot in the points table separated by just 2 points. The final match of the league stage revealing which team took the final playoffs' spot.
IPL 2020: Most Valuable Players from each franchise
While most of the cricketers performed up to expectations or even better, some of the others failed to live up to theirs. Some experienced T20 cricketers and former and current national captains could have done better in IPL 2020 and now find themselves in Team COC’s list of 5 biggest cricketers who turned out to be disappointments for their franchises.
Team COC brings to you the five biggest disappointments of IPL 13
MS DHONI- CSK
MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on 15 August 2020 while the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) players gathered to fly to the UAE. The fans hoped for a thumping season from the CSK skipper as he had already made them highly emotional with the big decision.
However, the fans were in for sheer disappointment from MS Dhoni both as the batsman and captain. The Super Kings were reeling at the last spot of the IPL 2020 points table for quite a long time before pipping the Rajasthan Royals by the barest of margins in their Net Run Rate.
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Dhoni’s leadership received a lot of criticism for benching the youngsters, who according to him, did not show enough ‘spark’ in the practice sessions.
MSD had a below-average season with the bat too. He accumulated 200 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 116.27. The words ‘lack of intent’ was linked to his batting performances throughout the season and that is probably where he ended up looking nothing like the MS Dhoni he used to be.
STEVE SMITH- RR
The Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith too received a lot of criticism for making unnecessary changes to the batting order. His decision to make Ben Stokes a consistent opener instead of the proven Jos Buttler raised a few eyebrows.
Smith continued to make unsatisfactory decisions in the field and ended up being the first captain of the Rajasthan Royals to make them finish at the last position on the points table.
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The Australian also looked fazed with the bat. He looked to play out of his comfort zone and tried to attack the pacers pretty early in the innings, unlike his usual self. He discarded his style of pacing the innings and tried to be much more aggressive. He scored 311 runs in 14 innings at an average of just 25.91 and a strike rate of 131.22.
Well, it is not a surprise to say that he looked out of balance while hitting the ball too hard and seemed to be out of place.
AARON FINCH-RCB
The Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch featured in the IPL for his 8th IPL franchise when he opened the batting for the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The right-hander looked out of touch more often than not. It was a surprise to watch RCB sticking with him as an opener for 12 matches despite him failing at least 10 times.
Finch registered just one score of more than 50. He showed his prolonged weakness against the inswinging delivery. RCB was lucky to have an aggressive youngster in Devdutt Padikkal to take the pressure off his opening partner.
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The Australian was not only getting out for low scores, but he was also found guilty of occupying the crease for longer periods of time despite not being able to score quickly. Finch scored 268 runs in 12 innings at an average of 22.33. His strike rate was 111.20, which is well below what was expected from the 33-year-old.
Only three other RCB batsmen registered half-centuries in IPL 2020 and that helped Finch go a bit unnoticed.
ANDRE RUSSELL- KKR
The Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell was completely out of form right from the Caribbean Premier League preceding IPL 13. Although, given his track record in the IPL, Dre Russ was expected to play a few game-changing knocks towards the back end of the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
His bat did not do any talking in the 9 opportunities he got this season. Russell managed to score just 117 runs with the highest score of 25. He averaged just 13.00 with the bat. His hamstring restricted him from bowling frequently, but he managed to squeeze in 18 overs in 7 innings.
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The 32-year-old picked up 6 wickets but was expensive. He conceded runs at an economy of 9.72 runs per over. His poor run of form was a big loss for KKR as they struggled throughout the season with their batting order and team combination.
Former captain Dinesh Karthik and new captain Eoin Morgan would have expected Russell to come good a few times when he was out there in the middle but he just couldn’t find the middle of his bat.
PRITHVI SHAW- DC
The young Indian opener Prithvi Shaw was a key member of the strong batting department possessed by the first-time runners-up Delhi Capitals. Shaw’s lack of footwork came to the fore and drew all the attention as he kept returning low scores courtesy of some soft dismissals.
He registered 3 ducks, which is one lesser than his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan but could not capitalize on the innings where he got the starts. The 21-year-old Mumbaikar did register a couple of half-centuries but was a walking wicket in the rest of his innings.
Shaw scored 228 runs in 13 innings at an embarrassing average of 17.53 and a strike rate of 136.52. The Capitals would’ve wanted the youngster to provide a few prolific starts to the innings as he usually slow-starter opening partner Shikhar Dhawan trickled along.
However, this was not the case to be in IPL 2020 as Shaw seemed to have lost form since the COVID-19 pandemic halted professional cricket all over the world.