What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
BENGALURU: Every season of the Indian Premier League produces new heroes, while some big names come a cropper. The New Indian looks at dynamites and duds of the IPL 2022:
The Dynamites:
1) Hardik Pandya: The Gujarat Titans was arguably the most impactful player of the IPL 2022 as he not only shone with bat and ball but also excelled in captaincy. Under his auspices, the new franchise punched above their weight and dwarfed giants. Hardik made vital contributions throughout the tournament at important junctures and ended up as the highest run-getter for his team. He smote four half-centuries but even his 30s and 40s in the Playoffs were instrumental in his team’s triumph.
In the final, he lifted his game even further and winkled out three leading batsmen of Rajasthan – Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer – and also scored 34 to propel Gujarat to victory. Overall, he scored 487 runs in the tournament at an average of 44.27.
2) Jos Buttler: IPL 2022 turned out to be annus mirabilis for the Rajasthan batsman as he smashed 863 runs in the tournament. Only Virat has scored more runs in an IPL season – 972 in 2016 – than Jos Buttler. The swashbuckling batter cracked four hundreds and four half centuries and was the biggest force behind Rajasthan reaching the final.
The impact of his runs was as voluminous as he scored them at a scorching strike-rate of 149. He walloped 45 sixes and 83 boundaries in the tournament – most by any batsman. He was also the recipient of three Man of the Match awards.
3) Yuzvendra Chahal: The leg-spinner made a resounding statement in the IPL by grabbing the Purple Cap barely six months after he was left out of India’s squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup squad in favour of Rahul Chahar.
While Buttler was the lynchpin of Rajasthan’s batting, the leg-spinner Chahal spearheaded their bowling by snaffling a record 27 wickets in the tournament. No spinner has ever taken more wickets than him in an IPL season.
In an encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders, he snapped up his first hat-trick of the IPL as he nailed Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins on three consecutive deliveries. He bowled a fine spell in the final against Gujarat as well (4-0-20-1) but couldn’t prevent Rajasthan from tumbling to defeat.
The Duds:
1) Rohit Sharma: IPL 2022 was the annus horribilis for Rohit as Mumbai Indians struggled throughout the tournament and finished at the bottom of the barrel. Not just as a captain, he came a cropper as a batsman as well and managed only 268 runs in 14 innings at an abysmal average of 19.14. For the first time in his IPL career, he failed to score a half century in a season.
Most of the time, he succumbed to soft dismissals as he kept chipping balls to mid-wicket and mid-on or perished trying to play late-cut. He looked out of his depth when trying to flick across the line. On the whole, IPL 2022 was an unmitigated disaster for the ‘hitman’.
2) Ravindra Jadeja: The all-rounder was jubilant before the IPL 2022 began as Dhoni stepped down as Chennai Super Kings captain in favour of Jadeja. However, his happiness was short-lived as Chennai seemed like a disjointed unit and kept losing matches. The situation got so bad that in the middle of the tournament, he was removed as the captain and Dhoni stepped in.
Jadeja’s performance was atrocious as he made only 116 runs in 10 matches at an average of 19.33 and took just 5 wickets. After being removed from the captaincy, he was dropped from the playing XI as well which eventually created friction between him and team management.
3) Rishabh Pant: Just like Rohit Sharma, the Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant also failed to score even a single fifty in the IPL 2022. The wicket-keeper has been in stupendous form in international cricket for the last two years, but in this season he found it difficult to connect balls. Though he scored 340 runs and the performance wasn’t bad, the failure to play a few big innings hurt his team’s cause and they failed to qualify for the Playoffs.
