Suresh Raina! Every time this 28-year-old southpaw comes on to the crease, the men behind the mike would speak of two things -
1. His unbroken record streak of 131 matches. (Have you ever heard of him being injured?! I haven’t)
2. The consistency with which he performed over the 8 seasons. 400+ runs in each season is a guaranteed thing from him that confirms the fact ”he is an IPL Legend”.
For CSK Lynchpin, this IPL has been the hardest. 346 runs in 16 games at an average of 24.71 at a poor strike rate of 120 suggests so. If I were to judge a batsman’s record, comparing with Raina gives me a fair idea, err, at least in IPL. As his record suggests initially the pitches had a lot for bowlers, it eased through the middle phase and now weary, limiting a 2014-esque run feast.
Based on this understanding of mine, I have picked my Losers XI (Worst XI).
Openers
Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra (both Kings XI Punjab)
Arguably, the Punjabi side is where the flop openers of the season showcased their struggles. Sehwag only has 99 runs to show for in 8 innings and was dropped midway through the season.
Although M Vijay struggled a lot, has scored 259 runs, but it never meant purpose. Manan Vohra after promising so much last season made only 82 runs from 7 innings.
Middle Order
Glenn Maxwell - Kings XI Punjab
A dummy of the Australian turned up this season, it can be said. 'Mad Max' couldn’t even hit one proper shot meant stats aren’t required. For those who are concerned - 11 innings, 145 runs and the magical arm failed him too.
Yuvraj Singh - Delhi Daredevils
The fittest we got to see him this season and all it could fetch him was a lonely fifty throughout the season. Yielding 248 runs in 14 innings, dropping dollies, misfielding - the ball never stayed in his hands, the bat got bounced too often failing to convert starts or finish the innings. Some statistics claims that Delhi paid $13,347 for each run Yuvraj scored as he was picked for a massive price tag of 16 Crores.
Suryakumar Yadav - Kolkata Knight Riders
Apart from the success of his favorite pick shots on the square of the wicket in the tournament opener, them brought his downfall too often. 157 innings in 13 innings is a too big a hole for a player of his caliber after he drew special praise from a lot of stars including Sehwag.
Naman Ojha (wk) - Sunrisers Hyderabad
Was on fabulous form coming into the tournament, scored a double Down Under playing for India A. On the back of a successive last season, Sunrisers required more than his 137 runs in 11 innings as the only experienced Indian in the middle order. Dinesh Karthick was worse, but both had a better stint with gloves were DK edges out by 4 runs and some acrobatic behind the wicket that resulted in dismissals.
All-rounders
Angelo Mathews (c)
Personally on a great rub of the green till WC2015, the 'Wisden Cricketer of the Year' had a season to forgot with both bat and ball. 144 runs in 10 innings picking 7 wickets and has the highest economy in 11 innings within his team.
He will lead the side on the basis of his international experience with captaincy.
Ravindra Jadeja
Sir Ravi Jadeja, renowned for his 'where the **** did that come from' kinda innings on deciding matches only has 121 runs from 11 innings. He was even promoted up the batting order in some matches.
Got hammered for 26 at the hands of Kieron Pollard, but has 11 wickets of which 4 came against the bottom-placed KXIP. Even CSK supporters are exploring the oceans to find out why he is in the team for.
James Faulkner and Mitchell Johnson (Rajasthan Royals & Kings XI Punjab)
Faulkner’s only best game came against Johnson. Australia's stalwart finisher and the tear away quick had their worst IPL this season. Johnson though had success in previous editions. Faulkner for some reason struggles at IPL. Johnson’s economy reads 9.37, slightly better than Faulkner’s 9.46 with 9 and 8 wickets, respectively.
Ishant Sharma
4 matches, 14 overs, 159 runs leaked @ 11.35 per over has a wicket to his name. To be fair to him Brendon McCullum and David Miller are hard to bowl to. Being branded and practicing Test match skills, but then unless you play at the WACA why on earth you bowl such line and length?
Vinay Kumar had a horrible season too, but Ishant simply leaked too much.
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