IPL 2021: 3 players whose poor form hampered their teams' chances to reach the playoffs

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is drawing to a close soon, with the final between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) scheduled for Friday, 15th October.

While CSK, Delhi Capitals (DC), KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) all made it to the playoffs, it was a season to forget for Mumbai Indians (MI), Punjab Kings (PBKS), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

While SRH had a disastrous campaign from the very start, the other three teams missed out on the playoffs by finer margins, especially two-time defending champions Mumbai Indians, who were behind fourth-placed KKR only on net run rate (NRR).

While MI finished fifth with 14 points, PBKS were sixth in the table with 12 points.

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The Rajasthan Royals were also in the running for a top-four finish, but they slumped towards the end, finishing seventh with 10 points, while SRH were last with six points.

Several key players were not in form, leading to teams not being able to progress beyond the league stage.

On that note, here are three players whose poor form led to their teams not making it to the IPL playoffs.

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#3 Nicholas Pooran

IPL 2021: Nicholas Pooran had a disastrous campaign for Punjab Kings.

The explosive West Indies batter had a torrid season for the Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. Nicholas Pooran had scored 353 runs at a strike rate of 169.71 in IPL 2020 and was expected to play a key role in PBKS' 2021 campaign.

However, the season turned out to be a disaster for Pooran, who was given a long rope by the Punjab-based franchise.

Pooran could only score 85 runs in 12 IPL 2021 matches as PBKS failed to reach the playoffs yet again, despite captain KL Rahul's stunning form with the bat.

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#2 Suryakumar Yadav

IPL 2021: Suryakumar Yadav did not have the best of seasons, but finished the campaign on a high note.

Suryakumar Yadav had been on a high since IPL 2020. He had his best ever IPL season last term as MI romped to the title, with the right-hander soon receiving his maiden India call-up. He hit a half-century in his first innings for India (he did not get a chance to bat on debut) and made an instant impact on the international scene in the home T20I series against England earlier this year.

His performances saw him be a part of India's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021.

However, he had a rather underwhelming IPL 2021 campaign. While he scored 480 runs in IPL 2020, his form dipped as he managed only 317 runs this season.

Out of those 317 runs, 82 came in MI's final league match, by the time they were all but knocked out of the tournament. However, it was his highest score in the IPL and India will be happy he found some form heading into the T20 World Cup.

But Suryakumar's struggles proved to be detrimental in their efforts to win a record third consecutive IPL title.

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#1 David Warner

IPL 2021: David Warner had his worst season for SRH.

While no one in the SunRisers Hyderabad team really stepped up in IPL 2021, David Warner's massive drop in form played a big part behind their struggles.

For context, before this season, Warner had always scored over 500 runs in every IPL campaign for SRH. But in IPL 2021, he managed just 195 runs, albeit in only eight matches. His sub-par strike rate of 107.73 did not help the team either.

Warner had for long been the leader for SRH not only as captain, but also as their best batter. Prior to IPL 2021, his worst season for them in terms of runs was in 2014, when he scored 528 runs.

Matters did not help with SRH stripping him off his captaincy and eventually dropping him from the team.

He made a return to the playing XI in the UAE leg, but the southpaw was once again dropped after a poor run of form.

It remains to be seen if Warner will stay with SRH next season, with the mega auction coming up.