We are into the third week of IPL 2022 and have seen some exciting games – Tewatia doing a Tewatia tops it – while also seeing the two most successful IPL franchises – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – struggled to get a single victory.
The two new franchises – Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans – started off their IPL journey in desired fashion as, at the time of writing, both sides are in the top four. Big totals have been put by the batters, and big totals have been chased down. Fast bowlers have made hay in helpful conditions while leg-spinners continued to assert their importance in T20 cricket.
Amid all this, there have been some star players who have failed to deliver as expected.
Here are the 5 big-name cricketers who have disappointed so far in IPL 2022:
Rohit Sharma
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has been perhaps the biggest letdown of the tournament so far: 80 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 125. Sharma’s struggles at the top have reflected in his side’s results as the lack of a proper platform by the MI skipper hasn’t helped the middle order to put up a defendable total.
Kieron Pollard
An IPL legend, Kieron Pollard has been a significant contributor in all of MI’s five title wins and has regularly stepped up when the team needed him. Not yet this season: Pollard has scored 47 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 130; his best of 22* vs KKR included a couple of sixes from the thick edge of his bat.
Pollard’s perennial vulnerability against leg-spin was once again exposed, as Kuldeep Yadav and Wanindu Hasaranga dismissed him. Mumbai Indians need their two stalwarts to step up and assert their authority as the IPL’s most successful franchise.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad averaged 45 last season and finished as the Orange Cap winner, helping CSK win the title. This year, in 5 innings he’s scored 35 runs, averaging 7, correlating CSK’s poor start with just 1 win in 5 matches.
Gaikwad, who fans had been wanting to get more chances in India’s T20I team before the IPL, has struggled sorely to get across the powerplay as oppositions have hurt him with swing and pace. He had, though, turned his season around twice after a poor start and that will keep the CSK fans optimistic about Gaikwad scoring big runs this season.
Moeen Ali
Another vital performer for CSK in their title run was all-rounder Moeen Ali. However, the Englishman has delivered a shadow of his last season’s display so far in IPL 2022. Last season, Ali was responsible for scoring quick runs in the middle and also chipping in with wickets, especially when used against his favourable match-ups.
This year, both Moeen’s batting – 86 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 128 – and bowling numbers – zero wickets so far in 4 matches – have been worse compared to last season. It has been a marked dip in his form and impact and that has hurt CSK immensely.
Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj was in such an impressive form in IPL 2021 – 11 wickets at an economy of 6.79 – that he got back into India’s T20I team, making notable improvements with the new ball and in the death. However, his bowling so far in IPL 2022 has been amateurish which has got fans once again thinking if Siraj could have a long and successful T20 career.
Siraj has gone wicketless in the last three matches and has conceded over 35 in four of the five games, twice going over 50 runs. He has managed 3 wickets in 5 matches while being very expensive, leaking 10.75 runs per over.
