10 national captains who failed to perform in the IPL

9. Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya is widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen to ever play for Sri Lanka. He has been a crucial part of the Sri Lankan dressing room for the better part of a decade. Hence, fans were expecting him to set the IPL stage on fire with his batting. He was purchased by the Mumbai Indians in 2008 and played for them for three seasons.

During the inaugural season, Jayasuriya was in great form. He scored one century and two half-centuries, accumulating a total of 494 runs in 14 games for his team. Despite his standout performances, MI failed to make the playoffs.

Unfortunately, his performances went downhill from there for the Sri Lankan batsman. When he returned to play for the same franchise in 2009, he was just a shadow of his former self. He played 12 matches in his second season and scored just 221 runs (less than half the runs he scores a year prior). Things didn’t get better for him when he returned for his third season.

This time he was only involved in four games and scored a measly 33 runs at an average of 8.25. His string of poor performances saw him released from his IPL contract the following year and this was the last time we saw him in the IPL.

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