Three Indian players faced tough time in the ICC event after a brilliant show in IPL

IPL 2019 is in its second week, and already the season has been a roller coaster ride for few teams. Even in its 12th season, the fans support gives the idea of the popularity of this league. Since inception, the IPL has acted as a bridge between the talent and the international stage. Over the years the league has nourished some of the best cricketers in the form of Virat Kohli, David Warner, Sunil Narine and many more.

Every IPL season has produced some breakout stars, and sometimes it has also revived veterans’ career. IPL has drawn special attention from the Indian cricket. But like a coin, it has got two sides. As the league is played over 50 days with each team playing a minimum of 14 matches, players sometimes get worked up. Especially, if the ICC event is followed by the IPL, then the performance of international stars can suffer and hitting the nadir.

Here are Indian three players who fared poorly in the following ICC event after a brilliant season of IPL:

1) Suresh Raina – T20 WC, 2009

Suresh Raina is called the “Chinna Thala” by the CSK fans, and the reason is his consistent performance for the league heavyweights and it was no different in IPL 2009. After scoring 420 runs in the inaugural season, the southpaw bettered it in the second season by racking up 434 runs in 14 innings.

In T20 terms he had scored 6 thirty plus scores which included a highest of 98 from 55 balls against RR, and with his significant contributions, CSK made it to the playoffs but unfortunately, they lost to RCB in the semis. With an average of 31 and strike rate of 140, Raina was a game changer for CSK of the only IPL season which was played in SA.

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The 2009 T20 World Cup was an opportunity for Raina to establish himself in the white ball cricket after a productive IPL. In the first match against Bangladesh, Raina batted at no. 5 and he could only contribute 10 runs. In the second match against Ireland, he did not bat as the team won it comfortably by the top order contribution.

For the remaining three matches Raina was given the no. 3 slot, a role he used to play for CSK but he had a miserable time at the centre with the scores of 5, 2 and 3 against quality sides like West Indies, England and South Africa respectively. By the end, his tournament figures read as 20 runs in 4 innings which was one of the reasons for India’s early exit from the event.

2) Gautam Gambhir – T20 WC, 2012

KKR won the IPL 2012 for the first time and their captain Gautam Gambhir played an important role in their victorious campaign. Most of the times Gautam led the team from the front as their batting mainstay and even though Sunil Narine won the player of the tournament award, it was Gambhir who played crucial innings under immense pressure.

At the top for the Knight Riders with an average and strike rate of 36 and 143 respectively, Gambhir provided the team with modest starts. He accumulated 590 runs in 17 innings and during the tournament, he cracked 6 half centuries at his prime form.

After a satisfying 2011, 50 over WC at home, Gambhir was eager to continue his dominance in ICC events during the 2012 T20 WC in Sri Lanka. With the well-known opening pair of Sehwag-Gambhir, India played its first tie against the new entrants Afghanistan which the former won easily with Gambhir making only 10 runs.

In the second match, he showed his class by scoring 45 of 38 balls against England and helped the team win. But, in the matches against Australia, Pakistan and South Africa he scored a total of 25 runs which included a duck against arch-rivals Pakistan. He looked a pale shadow of himself with 90 runs in 5 innings and has never played a WC for India again.

3 Jasprit Bumrah – CT, 2017

Mumbai Indians is one of the most celebrated teams of IPL as they have won 3 titles with the latest being in 2017 by beating Rising Pune Supergiant. In IPL 2017, Jasprit Bumrah showed his bag of tricks and outfoxed 20 batsmen in 17 innings with the figures read as 3/7 and 2/26 in the semifinals and finals respectively. With an economy under 7.5 and an average of 22 he was a lethal weapon for the MI franchise.

In the final MI played the trump card in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and he was the one to scalp MSD in the crucial encounter and his performance was equivalent to Krunal Pandya‘s MOM award.

In 2017 Champions Trophy India had a potent bowling attack with Bumrah as their spearhead. In the first match which was rain truncated, Bumrah bowled an economical spell of 0/23 from 5 overs and in the second match against Sri Lanka, he struggled with his rhythm and conceded 52 runs without any success in 10 overs.

He bounced back in the next couple of games by picking up a total 4 wickets against South Africa and Bangladesh, but all the personnel he dismissed were lower order players and in the final against Pakistan, he committed a grave mistake of taking a wicket of no ball. The batsman went on to score 100 in the final as he leaked 70 runs in the spell. By the end of the series, he took only 4 wickets in 5 matches which is not acceptable from the main bowler.

One cannot deny the fact that IPL has enriched the cricketing prospects of the country, but sometimes it has hampered Indian players at the global level. As the 2019 World cup is approaching the key players should consider taking rest from some of the league matches.

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~Written by Kiran Kumar