IPL 2019: Worst performers from each team

The 12th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded on 12th May 2019 in style with an exciting contest between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. In the end, Mumbai Indians won their fourth IPL title by a narrow margin of one run.

Over the seven-week long tournament, we came across several nail-biting contests, mind-blowing individual performances, and jaw-dropping catches. On one side, the likes of Andre Russell, David Warner, and Hardik Pandya lit up the tournament with their humongous hits and muscle power. On the other hand, bowlers like Imran Tahir, Shreyas Gopal, Kagiso Rabada, and Jasprit Bumrah bamboozled the batsmen with an excellent display of high-quality bowling.

Though several seasoned cricketers performed well in this season, few experienced Indian and overseas players failed to set the stage on fire. Now, let us look at such worst performers from each team.

Note: Player should have featured in a minimum of seven games

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#8 Royal Challengers Bangalore

From left to right: Nath, Umesh, and Siraj

It was a yet another IPL season. However, it was same old story for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they once again failed to qualify for the playoffs and finished at the bottom of the points table.

Just like every other season, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers topped the runs chart of RCB. Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, and Marcus Stoinis played several valuable cameos throughout the season.

For some strange reasons, Akshdeep Nath was given a long rope by the RCB management. However, he scored only 61 runs from five innings (eight games) with a below-par strike rate of 107.01. In few matches, there were more than ten overs left in the innings when Nath arrived at the crease. However, he failed to make use of the opportunity in all those games.

Umesh Yadav was the star bowler for RCB last season. He took 20 wickets from 14 games with a decent economy rate of 7.86 in IPL 2018. However, Umesh failed to repeat his previous year's heroics in this season. In IPL 2019, he took only eight wickets in his 11 games with a poor economy rate of 9.80.

Like Yadav, Mohammed Siraj too was expensive and struggled to pick wickets in IPL 2019. In nine games, he took only seven wickets with an economy rate of 9.55.

Note: Pawan Negi was not considered since his bowling was used in only four of his seven games

#7 Rajasthan Royals

From left to right: Stokes, Tripathi, Gowtham, Kulkarni, and Unadkat

Rajasthan Royals' over-dependence on their overseas players backfired terribly this season. A lack of constant skipper also hampered their continuity. As a result, they finished seventh in the points table with just five wins in 14 games.

For the second straight season, Ben Stokes failed to fire in IPL. 123 runs and six wickets in nine games were well below his standards. It will be interesting if the franchise decides to retain him ahead of next year's IPL auction.

A frequent shuffle in the batting order ensured a poor IPL 2019 campaign for Rahul Tripathi. In seven innings, he managed to score only 141 runs with a moderate strike rate of 119.49.

Krishnappa Gowtham, the last year's PowerPlay specialist of RR, failed miserably in this season as he took only one wicket in his seven games. As a result, he found himself on the bench in second half of the tournament.

Dhawal Kulkarni struggled once again to pick wickets with the new ball. In 10 games, he claimed only six wickets with an expensive economy rate of 9.57.

Like Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat too failed in two consecutive IPL seasons. Though he claimed ten wickets in his 11 games, an economy rate of 10.66 did no good for him. RR released him last year and repurchased him at a slightly lesser cost in this year's IPL auction. Hence, we can expect RR to repeat the same this year.

Note: Stuart Binny was not included since he bowled only seven overs and faced 40 deliveries in his eight games.

#6 Kings XI Punjab

From left to right: Miller, Tye, and M Ashwin

Kings XI Punjab did a repeat of their last season's performance by losing too many games in the second half of the tournament. As a result, they squandered their chance of reaching the playoffs once again.

As always, KXIP's two experienced openers, Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul, shouldered the batting department for the entire season. Mayank Agarwal supported the duo at various stages of the tournament.

However, experienced South African batsman David Miller failed to live up to the expectations as he scored only 213 runs from 10 games with just a single half-century. He was even dropped during the latter stages of the tournament.

In the bowling department, Andrew Tye, the Purple Cap winner of IPL 2018, endured his most miserable season in his IPL career. He managed to play only six games in this season and claimed only three wickets with a massive economy rate of 10.59. A high economy rate and lack of wickets forced KXIP to drop their star overseas player in the second half of the tournament.

Murugan Ashwin played ten games this season. Though his economy rate was decent, he took only five wickets in his 10 games. As a result, KXIP were too reliant on their skipper R Ashwin and experienced Indian pacer Mohammed Shami for breakthroughs.

(Note: Since Tye was the Purple Cap winner last year, he was included in this list despite being played only six games)

#5 Kolkata Knight Riders

From left to right: Uthappa, Karthik, Narine, Gurney, Kuldeep, and Prasidh

If not for Andre Russell's heroics, Kolkata Knight Riders' results might have been much worse this season. He was the one-man army for KKR in this season. Chris Lynn, Nitish Rana, and Shubman Gill supported Russell at various stages of the tournament.

Robin Uthappa, one of the most experienced batsmen in the KKR squad, had a lean patch this year. In 11 innings, he managed to score only 282 runs with a slow strike rate of 115.10. His painful innings against MI in the final league match summed up his form in this year's IPL.

Dinesh Karthik, the KKR skipper, too had a poor IPL season this year. Though he had two 50+ scores in this season, he scored only 253 runs from 13 innings. Besides, he failed to repeat his last year's finishing/rescue act in this season. Also, his mismanagement of Russell proved to be too costly for KKR as they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

For the first time in his career, Sunil Narine had a below-average IPL season. With the bat, he scored only 143 runs from nine innings. Once the tournament progressed, KKR replaced Narine at the top of the order with Gill. With the ball, he took only ten wickets from 12 innings.

Like Narine, the entire bowling department of KKR struggled severely in this season. Harry Gurney, the white-ball specialist from England, had a poor debut IPL season. He took only seven wickets from eight games with an economy rate of 8.81.

Kuldeep Yadav, the Chinaman bowler, was smashed all around the park by the opposition batsmen in this season. He claimed only four wickets in his nine games with an economy rate of 8.66. He was even dropped at the latter stages of the tournament.

Like Kuldeep, Prasidh Krishna also struggled badly in this season. An economy rate of 9.34 with four wickets in 11 games is never acceptable in any format of the game.

#4 Sunrisers Hyderabad

From left to right: Williamson, Shankar, Hooda, Yusuf, and Kaul

Sunrisers Hyderabad created history in this season by becoming the first team in the history of IPL to qualify for playoffs with just 12 points. Sheer dominance from their devastating opening pair of David Warner and Johny Bairstow proved to be the difference in the end.

The duo managed to mask the weakness of SRH's middle-order. However, once the pair left the tournament, SRH's batting line-up suddenly became too fragile. In particular, Kane Williamson, the SRH skipper, had a season to forget. Though Williamson sacrificed his preferred opening slot for the other batters in the line-up, he scored only 156 runs from nine innings with 70 of them coming in a single innings against RCB.

On the other side, Vijay Shankar started the tournament with two brilliant knocks of 40 from 24 balls and 35 from 15 balls against KKR and RR respectively. However, he faded away once the season progressed as he scored only 244 runs from 14 innings without a single 50+ score at the end of the competition.

For some strange reason, the SRH management gave a long rope to the Indian middle-order duo of Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan. However, both of them failed collectively without even scoring 100 runs in the tournament.

In the bowling department, Siddarth Kaul, the last year's bowling hero of SRH, was the biggest disappointment as he claimed only six wickets from seven games with an expensive economy rate of 8.96.

#3 Delhi Capitals

From left to right: Colin Ingram and Axar Patel

Delhi Capitals surprised everyone in this season by finishing third in the points table. Though they lost their Qualifier 2 encounter to CSK, it was a remarkable season for DC as they reached the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

Colin Ingram was DC's most expensive player in this year's IPL auction. DC bought him for a massive sum of INR 6.4 Crores. However, he failed to do any justice to his price tag at the end of the tournament. He scored 184 runs from 12 innings without a single half-century. Besides, a strike rate of 119.48 did not provide the required fireworks for Delhi in the death overs.

Axar Patel was the second most expensive player for DC in this year's IPL auction. DC bought him for a considerable sum of INR 5 Crores. However, he failed to make any significant all-round contribution in this season. With the bat, he scored only 110 runs in 12 innings. With the ball, he took only ten wickets from 14 games.

#2 Chennai Super Kings

From left to right: Rayudu, Jadhav, and Thakur

Chennai Super Kings failed to defend their IPL trophy by a very narrow margin of one run. As we witnessed in the final, CSK's batting department, especially the middle-order, was their biggest let-down in this season. MS Dhoni led from the front with the bat the entire season. Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, and Suresh Raina had a decent campaign with each of them scoring three half-centuries in this season.

Ambati Rayudu, the star of IPL 2018, had a poor IPL 2019 campaign. In 17 games, he managed to score only 282 runs with a below-par strike rate of 93.06. Though his batting position in this season might be the reason for his poor performances, he was a pale shadow of his former self throughout the tournament.

Kedar Jadhav was the other biggest disappointment for CSK in this season. Jadhav scored a mere 162 runs in his 12 innings with a poor strike rate of 95.85. Besides, his bowling was not required for Dhoni because of the presence of numerous quality spinners in the CSK squad. Hence, he failed to make any valuable contribution to CSK this season.

Shardul Thakur, the Mumbai speedster, was probably the only CSK bowler who failed to register any prominent expression in this season. Barring his two wickets in the final, he was a big letdown in this season. In nine innings, he took only eight wickets with an economy rate of 9.36.

Note: Dwayne Bravo was not considered since he faced only 66 deliveries in the entire season.

#1 Mumbai Indians

Krunal Pandya had an ordinary IPL 2019 season with the bat

After a usual sloppy start to their IPL 2019 campaign, Mumbai Indians roared back at the business end of the tournament. They topped the points table at the end of the league stage. Later, they essayed a comfortable victory against CSK in Qualifier 1 and reached their fifth IPL final. In the final, they once again defeated their archrivals in a very tense nail-biting encounter and claimed their fourth IPL title.

Even though various players stepped up at different stages in MI's successful IPL 2019 campaign, there was one particular player who performed well below his standards. Krunal Pandya, the Man of the Match award winner in the IPL 2017 final, had a moderate IPL 2019 campaign.

Krunal Pandya is famous for his cool-headed knocks under pressure situations. However, he failed consistently with the bat for MI throughout this season. In 15 innings, Krunal managed to score only 183 runs without a single half-century. Even in the final, he failed to make any significant contribution with the bat as he was dismissed for just seven runs.

However, with the ball, Krunal had a decent tournament as he took 12 wickets in 16 games with an economy rate of 7.28.

Note: Ishan Kishan was not considered since his batting position was often changed based on the team's situation.