IPL 2016: Super flops of the tournament

This IPL season witnessed some outstanding performances overall. Many upcoming individuals lived up to their promise and did extraordinarily for their teams. Most of the established ones, too, gave some memorable performances. But, for a few, it was a forgettable season. Failure from those players was unexpected. It was anticipated that they would stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to do that and were very big disappointments. 1. Hardik Pandya – MI: Mumbai Indians player Hardik Pandya. (Photo Source: IANS) Hardik Pandya was the biggest upset of this season. Pandya could not perform for Mumbai Indians, in the same way, like he did for them in his debut season last year. There were huge expectations from the rising all-rounder who made his debut for India at the start of his year. He had given memorable performances in the Asia Cup and the World T20 prior to the start of this IPL. Hardik could make 44 runs and claim only just 3 wickets in the 11 matches he played before he was made to warm the bench. 2. Ravichandran Ashwin – RPS: Rising Pune Supergiants bowler Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images) The spin bowling spearhead of India was also a big disappointment. He was mostly out of form and wicket taking seemed tough for him. The start of the tournament was very slow and he was largely underused by his skipper. Later, he began picking wickets but could not contribute to his team in a game-changing manner. He finished the tournament with 10 wickets in 14 games. He has the best bowling figures of 4/34 against Kings XI Punjab in the last league game. 3. Pawan Negi – DD: Delhi Daredevils. (Photo Source: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Pawan Negi, the costliest Indian pick of the tournament, turned out to be a complete blooper. He was an utter flop. The all-rounder had a forgettable time in the tournament and failed to contribute to Delhi Daredevils in any way. He played 8 games could muster only 57 runs while taking just 1 wicket. 5. Deepak Hooda – SRH: Deepak Hooda. (Photo Source: BCCI) Counted among one of the most promising young names in India, Deepak Hooda could not actually live up to his reputation of a hard-hitting all-rounder. Hooda had a wonderful opportunity to grab the attention by putting some solid show with his bat in the fragile SRH middle order. But, the Baroda middle order batsman simply failed to utilize the chance. He scored just 144 runs in 17 matches and could only pick 3 wickets. 6. David Miller – KXIP: David Miller. (Photo Source: BCCI) David Miller had a terrible season with the bat as well as while leading the Kings XI Punjab as the skipper. He could manage only 161 runs 14 matches that he played this season. His leadership skills were also below-par. Miller began as the skipper of the side but could lead his team to just a single win in the first five games. Murali Vijay later replaced him as the skipper for the rest of the tournament. But, despite getting freed from the leadership burden, Miller was unable to bring any change in his batting performances and returned home with poor numbers. 7. Ravindra Jadeja – GL: Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo Source: BCCI) It was a below average season for Ravindra Jadeja. There were lot of expectations from the home-boy before the start of the tournament. He has been a valuable player in this format and had done consistently for his previous IPL side CSK. He was expected to come out as one of the top performers for Gujarat Lions. But, unfortunately, Jadeja’s performances were below par according to his standards (both with the bat and ball). He played in all 15 matches and could manage only 191 runs at a strike rate of 107.30 while taking 8 wickets with a poor economy of 9.82. 8. Shakib Al Hasan – KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders Shakib Al Hasan. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images) Shakib Al Hasan had a forgettable season overall. The Bangladeshi all-rounder looked out of form and had a very silent contribution to KKR. His most memorable performance this season came against Gujarat Lions in the last league game where he made an unbeaten 66 & took 1/38 in the last league game. His tally of 114 runs and 5 wickets in 10 games were not up to his standards. Shakib would certainly hope for better performances when he tours India for the next edition. 9. Shreyas Iyer – DD: Shreyas Iyer. (Photo Source: BCCI) If there was any young batsman who had a ton of hopes on him coming in the tournament, it has to be Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai youngster came on the back of fantastic performances in the Ranji Trophy and domestic limited overs competition. And it was believed that Iyer will continue the rich form he has been carrying for the last couple of season. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t live up to the expectation and failed miserably with the bat, managing just 30 runs in 6 games. 10. Harbhajan Singh – MI: Harbhajan Singh. (Photo Source: BCCI) Harbhajan Singh seemed to have completely lost his old charms. Throughout the tournament, it seemed that the veteran was bowling just for the sake of completing his overs economically. Being the senior-most bowler in the team Bhajji was expected to lead MI’s charge with the ball. He had a mediocre time with MI and finished with just 9 wickets in 14 games at a poor average of 43.55.