5 T20 specialists who failed in the IPL

There has been a massive rise in the popularity of T20 cricket in the past few years. In T20 cricket, muscle power, quick thinking, proactiveness, versatility, and variations are valued more than skill, technique, consistency, and patience.

Players like Brendon McCullum, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Tymal Mills, Richard Levi, Corey Anderson, Luke Wright, Sunil Narine, and Jofra Archer have mastered the art of T20 cricket. However, despite all that, quite a few of the T20 specialists have struggled in the IPL for various reasons.

On that note, let’s take a look at 5 T20 specialists who failed in the IPL (minimum 10 games played)

#5 Samuel Badree

Samuel Badree's IPL career never took off

Samuel Badree is a canny leg-spinner, with 187 Twenty20 games under his belt. He has picked up 181 wickets so far at an economy rate of less than 6. He was a key part of the West Indies T20 team that lifted the Twenty20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

However, his record in the IPL does not look too great. The 37-year-old has only played 12 games in the Indian Premier League so far and picked up 11 wickets. He has played in only 3 seasons thus far and even went unsold in the 2018 IPL auctions.

#4 Corey Anderson

Corey Anderson has failed on far too many occasions in the IPL

Corey Anderson never lived up to expectations in the IPL, except for the one knock of 95* he played for the Mumbai Indians in the 2014 season. Anderson has played 27 IPL games so far and scored 521 runs at a strike rate of 129.

His overall strike rate in Twenty20s is 139, way above his IPL numbers. He struggled a lot against off-spinners in the IPL and found it hard to score in Indian conditions.

He went unsold in the 2018 auction but later replaced the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile in the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad.

#3 Carlos Brathwaite

Carlos Brathwaite could not replicate his success in IPL

A lot was expected of the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup hero Carlos Brathwaite. However, his two IPL stints turned out to be a huge disaster. He made his IPL debut in 2016, fresh from a title-winning knock of 34 from 10 balls against England in the finals of the World T20.

He played 10 games for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL and scored only 95 runs. He was far too inconsistent and often gave away his wicket very cheaply. His bowling too was very ordinary, conceding 11.16 runs per over in IPL 2017.

He will feature in his third IPL season this time around, for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Will the real Carlos turn up this time?

#2 Cameron White

Cameron White in action for Deccan Chargers

Cameron White was once one of the most feared T20 cricketers. He has played more than 200 T20 games in his career and scored more than 5000 runs at an average of 32 and strike rate of 128. However, his record in the IPL isn’t great.

The Aussie batsman has played 47 games in the IPL and scored only 954 runs. His IPL average of 26 is well below his overall T20 average. Except for the 2012 campaign, all his other IPL stints have been disastrous.

The 34-year-old has represented Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, with limited success.

#1 Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell has struggled on Indian pitches in the past

Some may disagree, but Glenn Maxwell's IPL tenure has been a failure so far. Maxwell is one of the biggest-hitters in limited overs cricket at the moment. 223 sixes in 197 Twenty20 games speak volumes of his hitting abilities. He also averages 35 for Australia in T20 Internationals.

However, Maxwell’s record in Indian pitches is dismal. He averages less than 25 in the IPL and only once in his 6 IPL seasons has he scored more than 300 runs in India (20 games of IPL 2014 were played in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai). He has scored only 6 fifties in the IPL so far and only 3 of them have come on Indian pitches.

His record is very poor compared to the likes of David Warner, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, and Kieron Pollard. Despite all that, Maxwell was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a whopping Rs 9 crores in IPL 2018.