India's IPL duds
We are halfway through the IPL season and it is, I perceive, a good time to sit and analyse the performances of players and teams.
The competition has been intense this year with none of the teams — apart from Delhi who top the table and Deccan Chargers who are at the bottom of it — can be singled out for special mention.
However, it hasn’t been the same story for the players. Take for instance Chennai, whose best batsman du Plessis is moons ahead of the rest. There hasn’t been much of a collective brilliance from any unit, and so maybe that’s why we have witnessed even competitions.
The foreign stars who add the much-needed glamour to this league have performed comparatively better than their Indian counterparts. We have seen the emergence of new stars like du Plessis; de Villiers and Gayle have continued to be impressive.
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But there were reasons Indian cricket fans were looking forward to this particular IPL with hope-filled eyes. The aging seniors of the national team were found, by many, to be the reason behind the repeated poor performances. This tournament brought with it the expectation that the new crop of cricketers will erase the recent ignominy. But the hyped stars have failed miserably. Not saying that IPL performances are any measure for talent, but these names have usually sparkled at this shore.
Virat Kohli – The best talent India has produced in years, Kohli is certainly going to solve a lot of issues with the Indian batting in times to come. But here this year our otherwise consistent batsman has failed miserably. From his seven innings in eight matches he could score only 129 runs at 18.42. His highest score is of 57, which means he has scored only 82 from his other six innings bringing his average further down to 12 from six.
Suresh Raina – A player with a lot of promise, an excellent timer of the ball, Raina has been around for quite some time now. In the limited overs format, his position looks almost permanent. But his performance in recent times, especially against pacers, has raised a few doubts over his technique. Here in India, in IPL even more so, where pitches are tailor-made for batting, one expected Raina to set the field on fire. But that hasn’t happened yet. From his seven innings in eight matches, he has scored 138 runs at 19.71 — his highest being 36.
Yusuf Pathan – The older of the Pathan brothers broke into the scene as one of the cleanest hitters of the cricket ball in India. His rise was meteoric. He performed with aplomb in the domestic arena, and went on to play for India. However, his claim to fame was the first IPL season where his brutal batting swung Rajasthan Royals to victory. Pathan since then has moved to Kolkata Knight Riders — bought by the franchise at a price of Rs. 9.66 crore. But his performance since then has only gone down. This year it has touched new lows. In the six innings in which he has come out to bat, Pathan has scored a shameful 29 runs at an average of 5.80. He has remained unbeaten on one occasion, without which he would have averaged around 4.84. Surely, value for money.
R Vinay Kumar – Why he gets selected in the national team is a question we have stopped seeking an answer to. Why the country needs a Venkatesh Prasad-sans-performance is another mystery. Kumar bowls at a lethargic pace and has been found out at every level by every player who has hitherto passed by him. After his disastrous campaign for India — barring the incidents when batsmen just got bored and walked away — he has been as consistently poor for RCB in this IPL. Don’t get fooled by the fact that he has picked up six wickets from his seven outings with the ball, he also averages 43.00 and has given runs 9.21.
Ravichandran Ashwin – When a team casts aside a player of the caliber of Harbhajan Singh, it is assumed that it has been done for someone that must be class apart. Unfortunately, in India’s case they have selected a player who isn’t so. Ashwin who now plays as India’s premier off-spinner seems under-prepared for the international stage. Not only that, he has carried his barren patch to the IPL too. Ashwin, who is otherwise a consistent performer in this format, has three wickets at 57.33 apiece from his seven outings this season.
Some other players who deserve special mention are: Praveen Kumar (8 outings, 2 wickets at 114.50!) and Saurabh Tiwary (6 innings, 84 runs at 16.80).