IPL 2018: 5 expensive players from IPL 2018 Auctions that have failed to fire so far

IPL 2018 has passed its initial stage, with 23 matches having been completed so far, with each franchise having played a maximum of 5 matches.

While almost over 3 weeks of IPL 2018 action being completed, by now almost every franchise must have known there possible strengths and weaknesses and would look to overcome those weaknesses in order to reach the playoffs of IPL 2018.

The IPL Auctions this year saw a huge chunk of players being bought by the respective franchises, with few of the players being bought for huge amounts so that they could help their respective franchise in their quest to win IPL 2018 Trophy.

But most of the expensive players bought at the IPL Auctions 2018, have failed to justify their huge price tag in this year's IPL so far, and their particular franchises would be hoping for these players to hit the purple patch very soon.

So in this article, let us take look at the 5 expensive players from the IPL Auction 2018, that have failed to fire so far in IPL 2018:

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#5 D'Arcy Short

D'Arcy Short has been completely clueless against spinners in the IPL 2018.

27-year-old Australian D'Arcy Short was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for Rs. 4 crores from his base price of Rs. 20 lakhs in the IPL Auctions 2018, as a result of his strong performances with the bat for Hobart Hurricanes in the recently concluded Big Bash season, where he scored 504 runs from 10 matches at an outstanding average of 56 and a superb strike rate of 147.8.

But the Australian batsman has flopped badly with the bat so far in IPL 2018 and has scored just 65 runs in 4 matches at poor average and strike rate of 16.25 and 97.01 respectively, and was dropped by Rajasthan Royals for their 5th game.

The biggest reason why D'Arcy Short has fared so poorly in this year's IPL is mainly because of his struggles against spin bowling on slow Indian pitches and has been dismissed by spinners on two occasions.

With Short's replacement, Heinrich Klassen being a middle-order batsman and young Rahul Tripathi going back to his preferred opening position where he achieved tremendous success playing for Rising Pune Supergiant last year, it is fair to say that D'Arcy Short's IPL 2018 campaign is over for now.

#4 Kieron Pollard

Keiron Pollard has been off color for Mumbai Indians this season so far.

Having been part of Mumbai Indians since 2010, apart from being one of the chief architects in Mumbai Indians three IPL winning campaigns, the big West Indian Keiron Pollard was once again brought back by Mumbai Indians using Right to Match card in IPL 2018 Auction for Rs. 5.4 crores.

But the big-hitting West Indian has failed to justify his price tag, and has looked completely out of sorts in IPL 2018 so far and has scored just 63 runs from 6 matches at a poor average of 15.75 and an equally poor strike rate of 110.52.

Pollard's poor performance with the bat is one of the main reasons behind defending champions Mumbai Indians disappointing IPL 2018 campaign so far were they have lost 5 out of their 6 matches and currently lie at the 7th place in the points table.

#3 Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch has been dismissed for a golden duck twice so far in IPL 2018.

Australian batsman Aaron Finch was brought by Kings XI Punjab for a hefty amount of Rs. 6.2 crores because of his reputation as an excellent T20 batsman who can change the course of the match in just a few overs.

But much to the disappointment of Kings XI Punjab team management, Aaron Finch has looked completely off color with the bat and has struggled against both pace and spin in IPL 2018 so far, as a result of which Finch has scored just 16 runs in 5 matches at a very poor average of 5.33.

Despite being the table toppers, Kings XI Punjab would be hoping for one of their best T20 batsmen Aaron Finch to return back to form very soon in the upcoming matches before it is too late.

#2 Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey has not really got going for Sunrisers Hyderabad so far in IPL 2018.

Indian middle-order batsman Manish Pandey was the man of the match in the finals of IPL 2014, and was the backbone of Kolkata Knight Rider's middle order from 2014-2017, and was back at the IPL Auctions 2018 as Kolkata Knight Riders failed to retain him.

At the IPL Auctions 2018, Manish Pandey was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a huge amount of Rs. 11 crores in order to improve their weak middle order. But instead of improving Sunrisers Hyderabad weak middle order, Manish Pandey himself has struggled with the bat so far in IPL 2018 and has scored just 88 runs from 6 matches at an average of 24 at a strike rate of 120.54.

Manish Pandey would himself be hoping to return back to form in the upcoming matches and justify the huge price tag the Sunrisers Hyderabad team management have paid for him.

#1 Jaydev Unadkat

Jaydev Unadkat has been expensive with the ball in IPL 2018 so far.

Jaydev Unadkat was the most expensive Indian buy in IPL Auctions 2018 and was bought for a huge amount of Rs. 11.5 crores by Rajasthan Royals, on the basis of his excellent performances in IPL 2017 for Rising Pune Supergiant where he was the 2nd highest wicket-taker in the tournament and picked up 24 wickets in just 12 matches and helped Rising Pune Supergiant reach the finals of IPL 2017.

But Jaydev Unadkat has been a huge flop in IPL 2018 so far and has picked just 3 wickets from 6 matches at an expensive economy rate 10.05, thereby failing to justify his huge price tag. In fact, Jaydev Unadkat has got the second worst economy rate in IPL 2018, just behind Mohit Sharma of Kings XI Punjab.

The Rajasthan Royals team owners would be hoping that Jaydev Unadkat improves his bowling performance in the upcoming matches so that their huge investment of Rs. 11.5 crores on Unadkat does not go waste.