Loud Thinking May 08, 2014 at 09:47AM

The biggest flops of the IPL 7, so far..!

A Times of india Report…

Three weeks into IPL 7, and there are a number of big-ticket players who haven’t pulled above their weight. Here’s a look at how some of the costliest and most valued players have performed in the tournament so far.

Yuvraj Singh (RCB) – Seven innings, 141 runs, average 23.50

The Vijay Mallya-owned franchise forked out huge money for the India allrounder – the highest winning bid at the auction, in fact, at 14 crore. Yuvraj, 32, came into IPL 7 as a castigated figure following his go-slow innings in the final of the ICC World Twenty20, but hopes of a comeback were raised when in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s opening game he smacked 52* off 29 balls. But since then he has made 89 runs in six innings, with three scores under 10 (he made 0 against Mumbai Indians). Not what RCB’s management would have had in mind when they purchased Yuvraj in February.

Virat Kohli (RCB) – Seven innings, 140 runs, average 23.33

One run behind Yuvraj, the player whom he apparently wanted to come to RCB, is Virat Kohli. Simply put, he hasn’t been able to channel his awesome form for India into IPL 7. The RCB captain has yet to score a fify – he finished 49* in game one against Delhi Daredevils – and since then has picked up two ducks. Three other times he has got starts, but only one of those occasions can be point to a gem of a delivery: the one from Sunil Narine that snaked past his bat and hit the stumps when he was on 31 against Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah.

Kohli can clinically demolish oppositions with a stable approach and aggressive display when required, but this season he’s not got going.

Dinesh Karthik (DD) – Eight innings, 193 runs, average 24.12

The 28-year-old Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman, who played for DD from 2008-10, was the second highest money-maker this season behind Yuvraj with the franchise shelling out Rs. 12.5 crore for him. But so far he’s not lived up to his huge price tag. Batting at No 3 or 4, Karthik has made two fifties in eight innings. What will rankle is the manner in which Karthik has been dismissed: on Wednesday against KKR, he top-edged the second-last ball of the parsimonious Shakib Al Hasan to short fine leg; against Rajasthan Royals, on 12, he holed out to deep square leg in the 16th over; against MI he chipped loosely to short midwicket for 2; against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he slogged straight to deep-midwicket for 15; against Chennai Super Kings he flicked to square leg the very ball after raising his half-century off 35 balls; and against RCB he nibbled his first ball to the wicketkeeper. Subtract scores of 51 and 56 and Karthik averages 10 this season.

Kevin Pietersen (DD) – Five innings, 62 runs, average 15.50

The 33-year-old Pietersen, who in February was dumped by the England & Wales Cricket Board in the wake of England’s 5-0 Ashes demolition in Australia, went back to DD after the franchise used their right-to-match card to outdo SRH’s bid. The decision not to retain Pietersen ahead of the auction saved Daredevils Rs 3.5 crore, but he has come nowhere near to justifying a fee of Rs 9 crore.

Having sat out the team’s first three games due to a hand injury, Pietersen’s returns in five innings read: 16, 26*, 14,0 and 6. He has been unable to express his maverick self – perhaps a bandaged hand is still causing him pain – and two dismissals have been awful. Against CSK, a limp prod at an in-cutter from Mohit Sharma saw his off stump pegged back first ball, and then against KKR on Wednesday Pietersen ran himself out in one of the most bizarre ways possible. Having struggled for five balls from Shakib, he pushed the sixth straight to a fielder and set off without looking at Murali Vijay. It’s been a terrible IPL so far for KP.

Shikhar Dhawan (SRH) – Six innings, 122 runs, average 20.33

After a successful debut season, SRH looked to retain their core team from last year at the 2014 players auction, and were able to do that at the auctions with added enforcements at the top of the order in the form of big-hitters David Warner and Aaron Finch to go with their retained Indian star Shikhar Dhawan. However, Dhawan has failed to click so far, and his lean run has been an extension of an overall poor 2014 for him in India colours. Thrice he has crossed 30 but never has he crossed 38, and there are also three single-digit scores. What has also been noticeable is on the two occasions that Dhawan has lasted more than 6.2 overs, he has not scored a fifty. Against RR he got out for 38 in the 12th over and against RCB he fell for 37 in the 13th over. Not what you’d expect from a free-stroking, dominant batsman.

Amit Mishra (SRH) – Five games, four wickets, economy 10.30

At February’s auction, Sunrisers used their right-to-match card for three-time IPL hat-trick taker after DD bid 4.75 crore for the 31-year-old legspinner. Their move was not in the least bit surprising, considering Mishra’s success in the tournament: he is the IPL’s second highest wicket-taker with 95 from 76 games and has won eight Man-of-the-Match awards in the IPL – the best by a bowler. But coming off a superb run in the ICC World Twenty20, Mishra has had a woeful IPL, conceding runs at over ten an over and posing little threat to opposing teams. In 19.3 overs bowled so far, he has conceded 16 sixes – seven of which game in one match against Kings XI Punjab and five against MI. That means that he’s conceded a six off every 7.31 deliveries bowled.

Michael Hussey (MI) – Four innings, 30 runs, average 7.50

When Hussey, 38, was purchased by the franchise for Rs 5 crore – in fact as their first buy of the auction – they would have had in mind the success he achieved in six seasons with CSK. Starting at a base price of two crore, MI got a bid of five crore and availed Hussey’s services for that price. It seemed a bargain buy for CSK’s most successful batsman in IPL 6 with 733 runs. Unfortunately for MI, Hussey looked a pale imitation of himself in the four matches he played before being dropped. The batsman who brought to MI the experience 3497 T20 runs at an average of 40.60 and strike-rate of 125.80 (2136 of which were in the IPL at an average of 42.72) has failed in totality in his new set-up, neither able to dominate attacks nor allow others to bat around him.

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