The IPL 2016 auction had a few surprises up its sleeves as the franchises chose to invest in young Indian players perhaps with an eye to unearthing raw talents. Big bucks were spent and some surprising purchases were made that grabbed eyeballs.
How did these big money buys perform this season? Did they justify their hefty price tags or did the burden of expectations eventually prove to be too much for them? Here are 5 big money flops from this season of the IPL.
Also, big money buys who missed the majority of the season through injuries or were left warming the bench have been excluded from the list.
1) Pawan Negi [Rs 8.5 crore]
Pawan Negi had shot to fame due to his performances for the Chennai Super Kings in last year's IPL. Negi was often used by Dhoni as an all-rounder who could be the third spinner when required. Dhoni put a lot of faith in him by even throwing the ball to him in the very first over on quite a few occasions.
He did okay with the ball and with the bat, coming in at the death and displayed his brutal hitting prowess. His punchy sixes earned him the sobriquet of 'pocket rocket'. Despite his good performances, no one expected him to emerge as the most expensive Indian player in the IPL 9 auction. The Delhi Daredevils splurged the cash on him and bought him for a whopping Rs. 8.5 crore.
Perhaps under the burden of this huge price tag, Negi grossly underperformed in this year's IPL. He was not picked for all the matches because of his ordinary performances making him one of the most expensive players to be left warming the bench.
He played in 8 matches this season picking up only one wicket and managing only 57 runs at an average of 28.50. Quite a forgettable season for the Delhi Daredevils' million dollar man!
2) Murugan Ashwin [Rs 4.5 crore]
Murugan Ashwin was one of the key talking points of the IPL 9 auction as he was bought by the Rising Pune Supergiants for an unbelievable Rs. 4.5 crore. For a player who had featured in only 3 first-class matches picking up only one wicket, the money invested in him was hard to justify.
His performances in the 2015-16 Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, however, had grabbed eyeballs and the RPSG owner later revealed that both Dhoni and Fleming were keen on buying him. But much like Ravichandran Ashwin, his namesake has done very little in this year's IPL.
Murugan Ashwin showed promise at times in the tournament but he finished with a highly unsatisfactory output of 7 wickets at an economy of 8.45. It was hardly enough for a bowler who had fetched the big bucks in the auction and had set the rumour mills ablaze with tales of his magic abilities.
3) Deepak Hooda [Rs 4.2 crore]
Deepak Hooda had established himself as a big-hitting all-rounder for the Rajasthan Royals and it was expected to attract the big bucks at the IPL auction. Yet, somewhat exceeding all expectations, the Sunrisers Hyderabad chose to pay an incredible Rs. 4.2 crore for him.
Hooda had played a few match-winning knocks for RR where he had shown that he could be a clean hitter of the cricket ball. Some even considered him good enough for the Indian team in T20 cricket. So, it was not surprising that SRH chose to cash in on the talented right-hander.
Though Hooda played all the matches for SRH this season, he failed to justify his price tag as he finished with a paltry 144 runs from 17 matches with an average of 10.28 and a highest score of just 34. He did very little with the ball as well as he picked up only 3 wickets in the tournament.
The fact that he played all the matches, however, show that the SRH management saw clear potential in him. It would now be interesting to see if they choose to retain him next year.
4) Stuart Binny [Rs 2 crore]
Stuart Binny has been a steady performer as an all-rounder in the domestic circuit and the IPL. So, it was not surprising when the Royal Challengers Bangalore chose to invest in him heavily paying Rs. 2 crore for him.
It was not baffling given the huge amounts being spent on unknown players but a few eyebrows were raised by some who felt that RCB had spent a bit too much on him. Such doubts were not unfounded as Binny, despite being given the long rope this season, contributed very little with the bat and the ball.
He bowled 17 overs in the tournament giving away 134 runs and picking up just one wicket. As a batsman, his form was just as bad as he managed a total of 63 runs from 14 matches at an average of 21.
As he hardly bowled towards the end of the tournament, questions were raised if RCB would not have been more favourably disposed to play Sarfaraz Khan in place of him. Binny had a final shot at redemption as he was presented with a chance to win the match with the bat for the RCB in the dying stages of the final. But he failed to do so bringing down the curtain on a forgettable season for him.
5) Kyle Abbott [Rs 2.1 crore]
Kyle Abbott has quite the reputation of being a useful T20 player but it came as a surprise when the Kings XI Punjab snapped him up for a price of Rs. 2.1 crore, especially after he had started out with a base price of Rs. 30 lakhs.
At a time when KXIP were struggling to register wins, Abbott issued a statement trying to argue that they were better than their results showed. “We are probably better than the results we have to show at the moment. It is important to get off to a good start and unfortunately we did not. It is also a tournament that allows you to almost have that kind of a start," he said.
The KXIP were in exceptionally bad form in this year's tournament and Abbott, whom the franchise had spent big on, could do very little to bring a change in their fortunes. He spent the better part of the tournament warming the bench as in the few games he played in, he was abysmally poor.
He played in 5 matches this season picking up 2 wickets and conceding 177 runs at an economy of 11.06. Not only did he struggle to pick wickets but also leaked runs as he failed to justify his huge price tag.
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