The Indian Premier League (IPL) is recognized for providing a platform for bright young cricketers to showcase their abilities in front of the cricketing community and rub shoulders with the game’s legends. Many players, both Indian and foreign, have earned their way into their respective national teams after excelling in the T20 Championship throughout the years.
There have been certain legends that have a lot of skill and are always in the spotlight because of it. Naturally, they will be expected to repeat their success while playing for clubs in T20 competitions. When such players enter the middle at the highest level, however, they often struggle to cope with the strain and expectations of franchise cricket and often wind up being the biggest failures for their teams.
Read more: 5 popular players who were one season wonders in IPL
That being said, In this article, we look at 5 popular international cricketers who failed in IPL:
1. Andrew Flintoff
Andrew Flintoff, the batsman, bowler, all-rounder, and match-winner, had little doubt about his abilities. For his exploits in the 2005 and 2009 Ashes, he has been immortalized in English cricket. He averaged 30 with the bat and took 226 and 169 wickets in Test and ODI cricket, respectively. Meanwhile, things did not go well for him in the IPL, as he only played one season with Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He scored 62 runs with a strike rate of 116 in three matches. He only managed to get two wickets. Because of his ailments, he was only able to play three games. Flintoff did not light the stage on fire in any of the three games.
2. Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh has had a lot of success for India on the international level, and he has some incredible records to his credit. He was instrumental in India’s victories in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. Despite receiving large sums of money from the teams, the famous all-rounder failed to live up to expectations in the IPL, failing to deliver the expected outcomes. Yuvraj scored only 2750 runs in 132 IPL games, averaging 24.77 and a strike rate of 129.71. He also took 36 wickets at a 29.91 average and a 7.43 economy.
3. Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke, Australia’s right-handed batsman, and left-arm orthodox spinner pounded the opposition ruthlessly on the international scene. In the 2012 edition of the IPL, Michael Clarke made his debut with the Pune Warriors. He could, however, appear in only 6 games, scoring 98 runs at an average of 16.3 and a strike rate of 104.2. In terms of bowling, the leg-spinner picked up two wickets in six games with an economy of 6.09 and an average of 33.5. Clarke did not play in any further edition of the T20 Championship because of injuries and international obligations, and so his IPL career never took off.
4. Mashrafe Mortaza
Bangladesh’s limited-overs captain was probably the first-ever superstar to emerge from his country. He even impressed Andy Roberts, and the Kolkata Knight Riders purchased him for $600,000 in the 2009 auctions. Mortaza, on the other hand, never had a lengthy run, and in his single encounter against the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, he was blasted for 21 runs in the final over by a rampaging Rohit Sharma, and KKR lost the match.
5. Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain, was one of the most famous batsmen of his generation. The cricketer has all of the necessary qualities to rule the game, and he went on to become the most successful captain in the game’s history. However, the batsman’s personal performance in the IPL demonstrated that he was past his prime. He struggled on Indian surfaces in the past, and that trend persisted in the IPL. Ponting spent the first two seasons with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before joining the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013. In the IPL, he has appeared in nine innings and has scored just 91 runs with a strike rate of 71.09.
