5 most over-rated players in the IPL

IPL, the biggest sporting extravaganza on Indian television, is home to a slew of talents who find a way to propel their names onto the lips of millions. They watch and adore the previously unheralded names, sometimes even chastising them when it’s not so deserved.

It’s also the home of a number of over-rated stars. An over-embellishment of their talents and an exaggeration of their impact have led to teams furnishing out millions of dollars for their services which would have better served elsewhere.

Here’s a list of 5 most over-rated players in the IPL.

Andre Russell

The West Indian all-rounder was snapped by the Delhi Daredevils in 2012 for $450,000. Russell entered the IPL with the tag of a match-winner who could do it all; whether it was with the bat or the ball. Combine that with freakish athleticism and you may think you have your perfect player for the shortest version of the game.

That’s where it starts and, sadly, ends for the athletic Jamaican. In two years in the IPL, Russell has managed to have an economy rate brushing 10 (9.95 to be exact) and a batting average of 14.5 with a highest score of 31. Andre Russell epitomizes the phrase “jack of all trades but master of none”. The Jamaican may have been blessed with immense physical talent but his performances with the bat or the ball leave much to be desired. More of an entertainer than a dominator.

Shaun Tait

The “next Jeff Thompson” they said, when the South Australian speedster burst onto the scene. These days nobody in their right mind would even dare try to compare him to the Australian legend of the 70s and 80s. Tait had and still has pace aplenty, but the problem has been that it’s all he has had throughout his career. When it comes to the subcontinent, he has failed miserably and his experiences in the IPL have not been any different.

The difference between being a good pace bowler and just a fast one is a rather large one and Tait falls flat on his face into the latter category. You can’t deny the match-winning abilities of the pacey Redback, but his directional sense is plain ugly and his reputation is falsely bloated by a few brilliant performances that can be best described as sporadic.

Dan Christian

Christian was tagged as the “next big thing” of Australian cricket. All that remains of that tag is the word “next”, while having an opinion on him. The Deccan Chargers shelled out a cool $900,000 for the services of the man who was supposed to take IPL by storm. However, the big Australian never quite lived up to his reputation with a strike rate of only 116 and not many runs to accompany his big-hitting prowess.

Regarded as a death bowling specialist, Christian often succumbed to the pressures at the tail end, whether it be for South Australia against the RCB on October 5, 2011 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium or for the Chargers against the Mumbai Indians in Game 9 of IPL 5 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium. He wasn’t able to defend 14 and 18 runs respectively for his side.

At the end, he was never the unstoppable force everyone envisioned him to be with the willow, scoring ‘zero’ half-centuries, and neither was he a top dog with the ball in his hands.

Angelo Mathews

Mathews is what I would describe as a “false star”. Angelo Mathews is another utility player who can fill holes in many ways for a team but never is the kind of match winner he is made out to be in many circles. Bestowed with the responsibility to lead the Pune Warriors this season, the Sri Lankan fell apart under the pressure and ultimately had to give away his place in the side itself to try and get Pune off and running.

142 runs and 2 wickets from 8 games in this year’s IPL serve as testament to the withering off of the Sri Lankan this year. Mathews can be called a good all-round cricketer capable of doing it all, but nothing comes with an exclamation mark. His strike-rate of 123 is decent but that isn’t coupled by big many scoring innings. He is a decent finisher but never the big hitter that can take hold of a game and turn it on its head. He sure has skills but is neither an efficient cricketer nor is a name that is an “absolutely must” on the team list.

Yusuf Pathan

The saying goes like this “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. The Knight Riders paid $2.1 million and got Yusuf Pathan. In no way am I calling Yusuf Pathan a monkey because as of now, I am unaware of any brand of peanuts costing $2.1 million.

Yusuf Pathan may be a very under-rated player when the field of trichology comes into play, but his cricketing career and, for most parts, his time in the IPL is going to end up as an extremely over-rated one. The so called hard-hitting batsman was surely a sight to behold during his days in the blue of the Rajasthan Royals. The elder of the Pathan brothers sparkled for the Royals, walloping his way into the record books by virute of scoring the fastest half-century against the Deccan Chargers and bringing up a hundred in just 37 balls against Mumbai while sending 11 consecutive balls to the fence.

He cultivated a strike rate nearing 160 while averaging a respectable 26.35. But those few games have forever reformed his legacy. Stats are a tricky customer and the numbers belie his not so great potential. He has never matched those numbers either for India or for Kolkata, scoring a grand total of “zero” half-centuries in the three seasons he has called Eden Gardens his home. For every time the Bengali crowd expected Pathan to finish off an innings or guide them home, Pathan, except on a couple of occasions, has let them down miserably. Even a change in kit number hasn’t come to his rescue. He has become the “False 9” (999 to be exact) of the team.

It sometimes happens when the icing hides the real flavour of the cake inside or when the glittering cover of a book hides the hollowness of the words inside. Pathan was a good book but the cover made it seem like a really great one. Kolkata fell for it and three years later he has the Kolkata faithful tearing up the pages to find the page where the true value lies. Alas! Just like the hair that disappeared off the top of Pathan’s scalp, they may never find it.