Top 5 most overrated 'T20 specialists' in cricket

Any sport in the world has to evolve ceaselessly over time in order to remain relevant and renowned. T20 was an innovative attempt which came off particularly due to overwhelming crowd engagement.

However, its popularity always has relied on a few ‘box-office’ players.

Here are a few T20 stars who are clearly overrated by media and fans:

5. Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan

Yusuf Pathan burst on to the scene with a magnificent performance for the Rajasthan Royals in the first season of the IPL. He scored 435 runs at a healthy average of 31.07 coupled with a ravaging strike rate of over 179.

However, the next two IPL seasons were decent for him, if not ordinary – the sole, substantial highlight being the century against Mumbai Indians, though for a losing cause. In the 2011 IPL auction, Yusuf was bought for a whopping $2.1 million by Kolkata Knight Riders. A dreadful slump was to follow.

Yusuf, in the three seasons for KKR, has managed just 809 runs in 44 games at a combined average of 26.09, striking at over 130 runs per 100 balls. On the whole, the numbers don’t look bad. However, a meagre one half-century in 44 games doesn’t sound good either.

Yusuf at KKR hasn’t been the Yusuf of old. By and large, he has struggled his way through to a 30-odd knock in almost every innings, only to surrender his wicket before he could put the finishing touch on the innings. KKR bought him back in this year’s auction at $541,000. The steep decline in his market value speaks for itself.

He is no more a part of the national side either – having played the last T20I against South Africa, back in 2012. Apart from a handful of match-winning all-round performances, he hasn’t really made an impression in Indian colours.

He has the ability, but as long as it doesn’t manifest on the field, he will continue to belong to this inglorious list of over-hyped players.

4. Richard Levi

Richard Levi

Richard Levi announced himself on the international stage with a record match-winning knock of 117 off 51 deliveries against the New Zealanders. That was the second T20I of his career. This Saffer dasher has gone on to play thirteen of them but managed to score just one half century in rest of the eleven.

Hardly two T20s into his international career and he finds himself being compared with the likes of Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum.

The reality dawned upon him as he encountered unfamiliar conditions and potent bowling attacks. The English pace pack exposed his technical frailties as Levi could compose just 9 runs in the three-match T20 series. In the previous edition of World T20, he debunked himself further – scoring 62 runs in four matches including one half-century.

IPL 2012 didn’t do his stature any good either. The sluggish Indian wickets served as clear-cut evidence to the fact of him being a slogger. The Mumbai Indian recruit compiled 83 runs from 6 games with the highest of 50 against Chennai Super Kings. Him going unsold in this year’s IPL auction explains for itself, a sorry tale.

At the domestic level, Levi sports 3 tons and 13 half-tons in 99 games. However, at the highest level, an average of 21.45 in 13 T20Is certainly doesn’t make for a good reading, by any stretch of imagination, especially considering that the player being referred to is an opener.

Levi is still 26. So, all isn’t over for this talented dasher. However, what his career hitherto exemplifies the importance of technique and adaptation. And of course senseless ballyhoo in the cricketing circles.

3. Andre Russell

Andre Russell

This Jamaican all-rounder shot into prominence with consistent showings in the World Cup 2011 (ODI). He did his reputation no harm by producing spectacles with the bat and ball against India in the home series, needless to mention his nimbleness on the field.

Russell was already touted as the next-big thing from the Caribbean Islands. He was certainly capable of being one. Even Sir Vivian Richards saw in him the future of West Indian cricket. Alas! he hasn’t been one, three years into his international career.

He couldn’t live up to the hype. His T20I record thus far reveals a hugely appalling story. Neither has Russell been consistent (batting average = 12.66 and bowling average = 86.66), nor has he been effective (batting strike rate = 111.76 and bowling strike rate = 52.0).

True enough that he is a batting all-rounder. True enough that he bats low down the order. All the same, on most occasions he hasn’t finished the innings. Furthermore, he has only worsened the scoring rate of the team – the certification of which is presented by his strike-rate.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indian bowling all-rounder, bats at more or less the same position as Russell does, and averages 26.50 and strikes at over 120.

Russell’s bowling ability won’t delight any T20 captain of the world either. An economy rate of 10 runs an over along with the mentioned average and strike-rate at best can terrorize a skipper!

In the 2012 IPL auction, he was bought for a hefty sum of $450,000 by Delhi Daredevils. However, his ordinary performance in the previous season saw him almost going unsold in this year’s auction. He was eventually picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for a 60 Lakhs INR.

Thence, the hype surrounding the all-round prowess of Andre Russell can be put to rest for the time being.

2. Jade Dernbach

Jade Dernbach

Jade Dernbach is one of the most ‘qualified’ T20 specialists in the world – qualified in the sense that he boasts of the widest range of variations in his bowling. Inexplicably so, he stands 5th on the list of bowlers with the worst economy rates in T20 internationals. The list includes bowlers who have bowled 50 or more overs in this format.

He concedes profusely at 8.42 runs per over. He doesn’t pick up buckets of wickets either to nullify his spendthriftness. 34 wickets in 28 games at 24.02 with the kind of economy rate that he has doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Dernbach has become a predictable bowler, lately. Having mastered too many varieties itself possibly leads to the disarray. Except for the block-hole, he hits every other length at varying speeds only to be carted all-around the park. He does have the slower-ball yorker in his kitty, at least it is widely believed so, but it hasn’t been unleashed often enough, or accurately enough, when pleaded for.

His last over against George Bailey in a recent T20 game stands apt to prove the stated point. Two slower bouncers, two half-volleys: slow and fast, two length balls – he hurled everything at Bailey only to be deposited here, there and everywhere!

It is often proclaimed that any bowler can have an ‘off-day’. But Dernbach has had too many ‘off-days‘ for a ‘T20 specialist.’

1. Shahid Afridi

Shahid Afridi

‘Boom Boom’, as he’s lovingly called by his fans, hasn’t really boomed when it comes to the shortest version of the game. He made his T20 international debut in 2006 against England after already having spent 8 years in international cricket. The two fastest hundreds (off 36 and 45 balls respectively) in One-day internationals, then, were registered against Afridi’s name.

However, even after ten years in the ambiance of T20s (debuted for Kent vs Middlesex in 2004), Shahid Afridi the batsman hasn’t made the sort of impact which was expected from him. There have been a few blazing cameos, disappointingly far and wide.

His inconsistency is shone by the fact that he averages a meagre 18.98 with the bat in 70 T20 internationals. His domestic T20 average of 19.71 doesn’t better his resume. Afridi has clearly been guilty of playing rash, irresponsible strokes way too often and perhaps way too early in his innings.

His die-hard fans may argue that more often than not he bats at No.6 or 7 and hence, he doesn’t have the luxury to get himself in. Well, a comparison of statistics with the top finishers of the world who bat at similar spots suffices their argument.

MS Dhoni, the Indian skipper averages 32.16 in 43 T20 internationals and 35.65 in 163 Twenty20 games. Eoin Morgan averages 31.40 in 41 T20 internationals and 26.57 in 127 Twenty20 matches. Both mentioned brag of a strike rate of over 130.

Like most hard-hitting batsmen, he was celebrated as a swashbuckler – when it comes off, there’s no stopping him; when it doesn’t, he appears like an ordinary schoolboy. Of late, we’ve witnessed the latter more often in all formats.

He does strike at 143.01 in T20Is, but since he doesn’t stay at the crease long enough to finish the innings, his short bursts don’t really have an impact. Over the years, he has turned into a quality leg-break bowler, but in the process, Afridi the devastating bat has virtually been lost.