5 T20 superstars who failed to make a mark in IPL

The only person in the relatively short history of T20 cricket to win the T20 World Cup twice as captain, Darren Sammy is a T20 behemoth. Granted that he had the services of some of the greatest names in T20 cricket at his disposal, the contribution of Sammy’s captaincy to the multiple title wins cannot be understated. A powerful hitter of the cricket ball, a handy bowler, and an outstanding fielder, Sammy was not just a ‘specialist captain’, as a lot of people are made to believe.

However, the IPL is a different story altogether for the tall Saint Lucian. He has scored only 295 runs at a paltry average of 19.67 in 22 innings in the IPL. What is even more worrying, however, is his strike rate of 122.4 across those innings. Comparing this to his T20I strike rate of 147.49 across 68 games for West Indies, the contrast becomes stark. His bowling stats are pretty average as well (11 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 31.8), though these can not be counted against him that much, considering he was never known as a great exponent of this art.

As a consequence, Sammy plied his trade for three different franchises in the three seasons of IPL that he was a part of, the last of those being IPL 2015. Since then, the only associations Sammy has had with IPL were either commentary stints, or his statements exposing racism in IPL.