IPL 2018: 5 players whose price tags will haunt them
In the past few seasons of the Indian Premier League, we have seen a lot of players getting big paychecks on auction day but not being able to prove their worth in the tournament itself, when it mattered the most.
Even though the players have not 'asked' for the prices that they were bought for, the fact of the matter is that extraordinarily high prices result in extraordinarily high expectations, which players often do not live upto. These high prices lead to the particular player's focus wavering from the cricket itself, and this loss of focus shows on the field.
This slideshow is a list of five such players who may find it difficult to cope with the pressure and expectation that their high price-tags bring.
#1 Manish Pandey (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
Manish Pandey, who was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹11 crore, is undoubtedly a great player and a proven match-winner in the IPL.
That being said, one must really question whether he will be able to do justice to the humongous price tag, especially considering the fact that players such as Gautam Gambhir (₹2.8 crore) and Robin Uthappa (₹6.4 crore) went for much lower prices, even though they performed better in the previous IPL.
Further, Pandey has shown an inability to accelerate the scoring rate in the middle overs. Most recently, this was perfectly on display in India's first T20 against South Africa. Only time will tell whether Pandey has a good IPL or not, but justifying a ₹11 crore price-tag would require a whole lot more than just 'good'.