One of the most cash-rich leagues in the world, IPL, has carved for itself a distinct position in the world of cricket. The level of competition is top grade, the teams greatly match up against each other, fans for each franchise are extremely passionate and finally, the overall mood of the tournament is surreal. Franchises have to construct their teams on the basis of a fixed money cap.
The managements employ a great deal of focus and dedication in acquiring the biggest and best names in the world o cricket. Bids for players run into millions of dollars. Traditionally franchises such as Mumbai Indians, Delhi, and Kolkata have been the big money spenders while Rajasthan and Hyderabad have formed teams around tight pockets.
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Mumbai Indians, one of the biggest spenders, have multiple trophies to show for their huge spending. However, it is not always true that spending the most and buying the best players guarantees success.
In this article, we look at 6 instances where franchises went all-out in their shopping spree and built the best teams on paper but that did not give them the desired results:
1. Mumbai Indians – 2009
In IPL 2009, Mumbai Indians ranked 7th out of the 8 teams that are taking part in the season. They boasted of some of the biggest names of cricket at that time. Tendulkar, Jayasuriya, Malinga, and Bravo made the ranks of the team. They had some of the most exciting young talents too. Players like Dhawan, Rahane and Duminy also formed part of the crux. However, as luck would have it they never found any momentum in the tournament and lost 8 games in the tournament.
2. Kolkata Knight Riders – 2009
Another big money spending team that miserably failed in the 2009 season was KKR. SRK had made a team of his dreams. It had the legends that one could dream off. They boasted off the likes of David Hussey, Gayle, McCullum, Ganguly, and Brad Hodge. Unfortunately, it was the worst season in the history of the franchise. They ended their season with nine successive defeats and had a disastrous strategy of rotating captaincy.
3. Hyderabad – 2008
One of the most expensive teas of that year in IPL, they were rated as one of the best teams of the season. The management had been successful in roping players like Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Symonds, Afridi, Gilchrist among others. The list of marquee players was unending. Everyone had expected them to lift the trophy that year but they finished at the bottom. For the next season, the management sacked the entire administration, captain, and coach.
4. Royal Challengers Bangalore – 2014
Virat Kohli was named as the captain of the team this season in IPL. The management retained him, De Villers, and Gayle. They went on to pick Starc, Albie Morkel, Yuzvendra Chahal among others. They splurged a massive 14 crores rupees on Yuvraj Singh making him one of the most expensive players of all time. This team looked destined to pick the trophy. They ended up coming 7th and could not even make it to the playoffs.
5. Delhi Daredevils – 2014
Delhi was looking to end their trophy drought and announced that they would be building a team from the scratch. They retained no players before the 2014 auctions. They went all guns blazing into the auctions to pick Pietersen as their captain with Dinesh Karthik, Imran Tahir, De Kock, Ross Taylor, and Nathan Coulter Nile. However, they could not have had a more disastrous season. They ended up last on the points table.
6. Kolkata Knight Riders – 2013
KKR came into the tournament as the defending champions and expectations among fans were running high. With the likes of Gambhir, Morkel, Russel, and Kallis the fans expected an encore. What ensued was quite to the contrary. They lost 10 matches in the league and ranked 7th out of 9 teams. A few individual performances did catch the eye, however, the team as a whole lacked synchronization.
