IPL 2019: Team-wise unlucky player of the season

The league stages of the IPL 2019 concluded after 56 matches wherein all the teams featured in 14 respectively. Like it has been so often in the tournament, the teams that would qualify for the playoffs wasn’t certain until the very last league match. Eventually, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged as the four teams that got through. Even after 14 matches, there were players who didn’t get the opportunity to showcase their talent.

There have been many eye-catching performances like the dual centuries by David Warner (100) and Jonny Bairstow (114) where Sunrisers won by 118 runs, the 20-year old Sam Curran taking a hat-trick, Riyan Parag’s one-man show scoring 50 runs from 49 balls against Delhi Capitals, with which he also became the youngest player to score a half-century in the IPL.

A look at the bench of all the teams tells us that there were many not fortunate enough to get sufficient opportunities. Here we take a look at the players from each team who should’ve got more games this season.

1. Sandeep Lamichhane (Delhi Capitals):

The young courageous spinner from Nepal created history by becoming the first Nepalese cricketer to play in the Indian Premier League getting the contract from Delhi Capitals last season. He has featured in 6 matches for the Capitals this year where he picked 8 wickets with his best bowling figures of 3/40 against Kings XI Punjab at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

At times Delhi had the dilemma of picking between the four overseas players and decided to keep Lamicchane out. The presence of experienced Amit Mishra in the team was also a prime reason Sandeep found it tough to break into the playing XI. Lamicchane in the matches he played conceded 210 runs in 6 innings and had an economy of 9.13.

DC has qualified for the playoffs and the 18-year-old might still get the big opportunity to make it count when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator.

2. Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians):

The Jharkhand boy had played for Mumbai Indians as their prime wicketkeeper in 2018, he was the No.3 and repaid the faith with performance scoring 275 runs from 14 innings at the strike rate of 149.45. With the inclusion of South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock who was traded from Royal Challengers Bangalore for 2.8 crores.

De Kock was the first choice keeper in the Mumbai squad this season, he also opened the innings and has been very consistent with the bat contributing almost 500 runs in the league stages.

Kishan was only given 5 matches to play in place of the veteran Yuvraj Singh, the left-hander could just get 50 runs from 4 innings with the highest score of 21. A lot of people feel that the 21-year-old would have got the desired outcome if he was given more opportunities.

3. Nicholas Pooran (Kings XI Punjab)

The Carribean young gun was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 4.80 crores and was used by the team as a finisher who could come and execute big shots in the lower order. It wasn’t in every game that he got the opportunity to go out there and swing his bat. That wouldn’t usually be the case when there are the likes of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul opening the batting.

Pooran played half of the league matches for the team and made 168 runs that included two 40+ scores, his splendid innings of 48 from 27 balls against Knight Riders went in vain as Punjab lost that match to Knight Riders by 7 wickets. Pooran should be given more chances next season and can be a better keeping option as well ahead of the part-timer Rahul.

4. Deepak Hooda (Sunrisers Hyderabad):

The 24-year-old all-rounder has played 10 matches so far for the Sunrisers and has not got many opportunities to bat. That was primarily due to the tremendous opening stands David Warner and Jonny Bairstow combined for. The duo together contributed 1137 runs for the Orange Army.

Hooda is a middle and lower order batter who can tonk the ball big, a skill SRH missed dearly in the match against MI that went into the Super Over. Although he was only able to score 60 runs this season in the lower order, the Baroda lad did deserve better opportunities. The cricketer so far has accounted for 520 runs in the IPL while in all he has 1385 runs in his T20 career.

5. Oshane Thomas (Rajasthan Royals):

Oshane Thomas earned an IPL contract on the back of some impressive performances for Windies, especially in the series against India in the subcontinent. His ability to bowl quick, consistently and almost intimidate the batsmen was picked up by many. Rajasthan Royals were however focused more on Jofra Archer to deliver with the ball. They also had Ben Stokes occupying the overseas slot and Thomas didn’t get the desired exposure.

The Jamaican bowler had to wait for 10 league matches before making his IPL debut against Knight Riders. In the last four matches where RR’s playoffs qualification still hung in balance, he returned with decent enough bowling performance. Thomas’ figures in those games read 1/32, 2/28, 2/6, and 0/13. Being a wicket-taker he should have been in RR’s plan of action from the very beginning.

6. Shimron Hetmyer (Royal Challengers Bangalore):

RCB is one team that relies on the stars. They sign up the big names and expect them to deliver the goods and drive results. Thus it is seldom that a youngster gets enough opportunities to settle down in that team and then start to deliver. Shimron Hetmyer‘s was a similar case.

The left-handed batsman showed his class with the bat in their last league game and anchored the chase with his quickfire knock of 75 from 47. It helped RCB end their campaign on a positive with a win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Hetmyer was a part of their initial squad but single-digit scores in the first 4 innings meant the team management lost faith in him soon enough. He could just score 0, 5, 9, & 1 in the initial few games and thus was a permanent on the bench for the next 9 matches. His fifty does prove RCB would’ve been in a much better place, had Hetymer played enough matches in the league.

7. Joe Denly (Kolkata Knight Riders):

The English all-rounder who plays major T20 leagues across the globe didn’t get the deserved chances to prove his calibre. In his first ever IPL match the Kent batsman was sent to the pavilion for a golden duck by Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma and that proved to be his last outing as well.

Denly only featured for the one and only match which did not work well for him. The 33-year-old possesses an experience of playing over 200 T20 matches. He is among the few batsmen who have gone past the 5000-run mark in this format and also provides a bowling option with his leg-breaks.

Considering KKR’s struggles and the over-dependence on Andre Russell, having Denly in the line-up would’ve worked well for them.

8. Dhruv Shorey (Chennai Super Kings):

The 26-year old who scored a first-class century in the 2017 Ranji Trophy finals against Vidarbha only got a single opportunity to feature for the IPL giants this season. It was the match against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians at the Chepauk. CSK was a depleted side without skipper MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis as well as Ravindra Jadeja and thus the game ended up in favour of the visiting team.

Shorey could not capitalize on the big chance and succumbed for just 5 runs from 8 balls. In a team like CSK where they seldom make changes in the playing XI, players need to make these opportunities count or the possibility of the next coming their way gets worse.

The 26-year-old has played 28 T20 matches in his career and scored 610 runs at an average of 29. It will be interesting to see if another opportunity beckons him in the playoffs or will he have to wait until IPL 2020.

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