5 Internationally Successful Players Who Underperformed in IPL

IPL has always been a breeding ground for young talent who have made a name for themselves in the IPL and have gone on to do wonders in the international level. But what about the players who have proven at the international level but have failed to make a mark in the IPL? Let us have a look. (For the sake of being fair, we do not consider players like Ricky Ponting and Mohammed Kaif who couldn’t perform because they played IPL at the fag end of their career).

5) Unmukt Chand

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After captaining India to U-19 glory in 2012, Chand was expected to follow the footsteps of his predecessor Virat Kohli. He scored 246 runs in 6 games at the 2012 U 19 World Cup, including a match winning century in the finals vs Australia. He has played 120 List A games, scoring more than 4000 runs with an average of 41. Sadly for him, IPL has been a let-down, with him scoring just 300 runs in 21 innings at an average of just 15. This includes 4 ducks. Chand, unfortunately, hasn’t got the opportunity to represent India yet.

4) Chesteshwar Pujara

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There is absolutely no shame in not being cut out for IPL when you are better at another format. Cheteshwar Pujara has inherited India’s Wall nickname after the great Rahul Dravid as he has proven himself all over the globe in test cricket. He has amassed close to 6000 runs in tests with an average of almost 50 each innings. Unfortunately, this also means that IPL is not his cup of tea. He has played 22 innings and has scored 390 runs, with an average strike rate less than 100. Pujara however has never let his IPL career affect his natural game as he continues to be one of India’s rock in test cricket.

3) Tim Southee

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Tim Southee is one of the world’s best death bowlers, who has perfected the art of yorkers. He has taken 190 ODI wickets and 78 wickets in T20Is for the Kiwis. His best bowling figures of 7/33 came vs England in the 2015 World Cup. However, Southee hasn’t tasted similar success in the IPL. After his debut game for CSK where he defended 9 runs in the last over, he hasn’t had much to smile about. He has taken just 28 wickets in 40 matches and has a dreadful economy rate of 8.74. It is sad to see this reliable bowler being smashed around the park of late.

2) Marlon Samuels

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The two time T20 World Cup winner holds a unique record for being the only player to win the Man of the Match award in two T20 WC finals (2012 and 2016). This handy all rounder has scored more than 1600 runs (averaging close to 30) in T20Is for West Indies and has taken 22 wickets at a decent economy rate of 7.79. But his IPL stats don’t do justice to his achievements internationally. He has played just 15 games across 5 seasons, scoring a meagre 161 runs (averaging barely 12) and picking up 9 wickets. Maybe some West Indians do fail in the IPL!

1) Colin Munro

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The New Zealand opener holds the record for the second fastest T20I fifty scored off just 14 balls. He has 3 hundreds in T20Is, having played 65 games and scored more than 1700 runs with an average of 31.35. He also has scored more than 1500 runs in the Caribbean Premier League with an average of 40. However his stats in IPL are a shadow of his international achievements, scoring just 177 runs in 13 matches with an average of 15, almost half that of his international T20 average. We expected better numbers from an opening batsman!

About the Author

The post is written by Vignesh. Vignesh is a graduate from IIM Visakhapatnam who loves to watch Football and Cricket. He is a huge fan of CSK, Chelsea FC and Chennaiyin FC. He follows Tennis and Kabaddi as well and is an ardent supporter of Roger Federer