IPL 2018: Top expensive buys who haven't proved their worth

The IPL is the most competitive and popular T20 league in the cricket world. The IPL auction marks the beginning of each IPL season and it adds a unique flavour to all the drama. Each auction brings with it a lot of surprises as we see a few players going for a higher sum than others. This heavy price tag brings in a lot of pressure as the players will have to deal with the weight of expectations from the franchise owners and fans, apart from the pressure in their own minds of being a crucial player for their team.

Most of the star players deal with it and dish out performances befitting of the money spent on them. However, a few players do struggle to cope up with the price tag and end up performing well below the standards expected of them.

We take a look at those players who have failed to justify their expensive auction fees:

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#6 Chris Woakes

Woakes had an impressive debut campaign in the previous IPL with Kolkata Knight Riders where he picked up 17 wickets in 13 games, and this led to a bidding war at this year's auction. The English all-rounder was ultimately signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for ₹7.4 crore, which translates into 1.1 million US dollars.

Woakes has been average with the ball this year. Though he has picked up 8 wickets, he has leaked runs at an economy rate of 10.36 runs per over. Moreover, most of his wickets have come in the last few balls of his spell when the damage has already been done.

The Englishman has also been unimpressive with the bat. He failed to provide the late flourish required in the game against KKR. Chasing a humongous score and with skipper Kohli batting besides him, Woakes was unable to raise the tempo to the necessary standards to make a fist of the target.

Woakes will have to step up with the ball in the death overs to restrict the flow of runs.

#5 Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch, the no.4 ranked T20I batsman in the world was bought by Kings XI Punjab for ₹6.2 crore at the auction as their first choice opener. But the Australian has had an absolutely dismal IPL season so far. Having missed the first match due to his wedding, Finch has only scored a paltry 16 runs in 4 innings.

Batting in an unusual spot in the middle order, Finch registered 2 golden ducks in his first 3 innings. A promotion to his favored opening spot in Chris Gayle's injury absence also failed to pay dividends as he was dismissed for just 2 runs off 4 balls.

It's hard to see Finch retain his spot once Gayle's back from his injury.

#4 Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell is always one of the hot properties when it comes to T20 cricket. The Australian all-rounder was surprisingly not retained by his former franchise Kings XI Punjab and that meant he was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a massive price of ₹9 crore. Being the no.3 ranked batsman and no.1 ranked all-rounder in T20I and coming into the tournament in sizzling form, expectations would have been extremely high on Maxwell.

The Big Show has however failed to deliver for his side and this is one of the major reasons for their position at the bottom of the table. Apart from a quick-fire 47 in a losing cause against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Maxwell has failed to come up with substantial scores to help his team's cause. He has appeared lost in certain matches and the fire is missing in him.

Maxi will have to improve considerably if his team is to have any chance of making the playoffs.

#3 Ben Stokes

As expected, Ben Stokes ended up as the richest player at the auction yet again, just like he did last year. After a long-drawn bidding war, Rajasthan Royals finally got their prized asset for a staggering ₹12.5 crore. The English all-rounder was the Most Valuable Player last season and he was expected to play a major part in the Royals' success this year.

The English all-rounder came into the tournament with limited match practice having been temporarily suspended from international cricket due to his involvement in a post-match brawl. That rustiness has clearly been visible, especially in his bowling. Though he has run in and bowled at good pace, he has failed to establish any sort of control. In 14 overs across 5 innings, he has picked up just 1 wicket and he has conceded runs at over 10.5 per over.

His batting has been decent as he has got to starts. The Royals though will hope that he can convert it into substantial match-winning scores as that is what is expected from one of the most important players in the tournament. Stokes' all-round performances might make the difference in them sneaking into the playoffs towards the end.

#2 Manish Pandey

Over the past two years, Sunrisers Hyderabad relied heavily on Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Kane Williamson to score the bulk of the runs. They decided to address that at the auction this year and went all-out to secure the services of Manish Pandey. They finally did at ₹11 crore, making him the costliest batsman along with Karnataka teammate KL Rahul. Both the batsmen have gone on completely different paths though. While Rahul has led the charge for his team, Pandey has surrendered meekly.

With talismanic skipper David Warner ruled out of the IPL, the onus was on Pandey to step up in his absence. In 5 innings, he has scored just a single half-century, which itself was a puzzling knock where he showed almost no intent to chase down a stiff target. Apart from that, he has scored just 31 runs in 4 innings. It's not like Pandey has struggled to score runs, it's just that he's found different ways to get himself out. Batting at no.3 or no.4, Pandey should be batting more responsibly.

Sunrisers have made a good start to their campaign and have fortunately not felt the effect of Pandey's poor form. However, if they are to go deep into the tournament, they know that the runs will have to start coming from Pandey's bat.

#1 Jaydev Unadkat

Prior to the auctions, few would have expected Unadkat to be the costliest Indian player in the auction despite the fabulous season he had with Rising Pune Supergiant last year. However, the non-availability of quality left-arm pacers meant that his value soared over the roof and he was ultimately bought for ₹11.5 crore by Rajasthan Royals. Underwhelming performances in the Nidahas Trophy only added to the pressure along with his heavy price tag.

The Saurashtra pacer has been absolutely disappointing throughout this season. His bowling has been easy for the batsmen to deal with and his variations haven't really threatened them. Having bowled 19 overs he has only picked up 3 wickets and he's also leaked runs at over 10 per over. He's been down on pace and his slower balls and cutters haven't worked for him either.

He looks a pale shadow of the bowler he was last year. Royals will hope that the introduction of Jofra Archer can help Unadkat himself up going into the second phase of the auction.