SHANE WATSON

Shane Watson came into the IPL 2020 on the back of little to no cricket under his belt and it wasn’t just due to the coronavirus pandemic. Watson retired from international cricket in 2016 and from most of the domestic T20 leagues in 2018, when he was bought by Chennai Super Kings in the auction.

Watson had the tournament of his life, making two centuries, including one in the finals where he took CSK to their third IPL title win. He almost repeated that feat in the final of the 2019 IPL as well, where CSK fell one run short to MI. However, by the time IPL 2020 was finalized, Watson, was devoid of any cricket practice, more than any other regular cricketer.

IPL 2020: Shane Watson lauds CSK captain MS Dhoni for the way he treats his players

Even in the previous two editions of the IPL, CSK managed Watson’s injuries as he didn’t bowl much in IPL 2018 and didn’t bowl at all in IPL 2019 and 2020. He fielded at comfortable positions and even Dhoni said that the team had to concede some runs in order to keep their daddies’ army fit.

This came back to haunt them as Watson looked out of touch throughout the tournament and looked unfit as well. Though he scored 299 runs in 11 matches with 2 half-centuries, he averaged 29.90 and had a strike-rate of 121.05, far below what the fans expected from a big-hitter like him.