There were a few cricketers of the past who could have made a big impact in the IPL, but they eventually ended up having a very brief IPL stint.
The reason why most of them couldn’t play for a long time was because the tournament originated at a time when they were already past their peak.
Let’s have a look at an all time XI of the cricketers who played just one game in the IPL –
Openers (Brad Haddin, Joe Denly)
Both Brad Haddin and Joe Denly made just one appearance in the IPL and they did it for the same team Kolkata Knight Riders. While Haddin scored 18 on his IPL debut, Denly couldn’t even open his account.
Haddin has already retired from the game and Denly doesn’t have an IPL contract right now. Since he is 34 years of age already, there is not much possibility of him playing in the IPL in future.
Middle Order (Mohammad Ashraful, Damien Martyn, Siddhesh Lad, Darren Bravo)
Mohammad Ashraful was a destructive batsman at the top of the order for Bangladesh and had the ability to hit sixes which was why he earned an IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. But, he represented Mumbai in just one IPL fixture.
Rajasthan Royals had signed a lot of veteran players for the first season of the IPL and Damien Martyn was one of them. However, he didn’t get a consistent run in the tournament. The Aussie right-hander scored 19 runs in the solitary game that he played.
Siddhesh Lad is a very conventional batsman who is more suited to red ball cricket, but in the last couple of years, he has improved his white ball game as well and has added an extra gear to his batting.
Lad was handed his IPL debut by Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL, but he couldn’t do much and was dismissed at the score of 15.
Darren Bravo was signed by KKR a couple of years ago, but they gave him just one game and even though, the left hander remained unbeaten in that game, he didn’t get any further opportunities.
Wicket-keeper (Prabhsimran Singh)
Prabhsimran has not played that much of domestic cricket, but his six hitting ability in club cricket caught the eyes of the scouts which was the reason why he was sold at a price of 4.8 crore INR in IPL auction.
Kings XI Punjab bought Prabhsimran and even though there were a lot of talks about the teenager, the team management didn’t give him a lot of exposure and he finished the season having played just one game.
Bowlers (Raymond Price, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mark Wood, Andre Nel):
Raymond Price was a former left arm spinner from Zimbabwe whose game was ideally suited to T20 cricket. He was not a huge turner of the ball, but rather relied on his accuracy. Price made his IPL debut in 2011 for Mumbai Indians, but that proved to be his last IPL game as well.
Mashrafe Mortaza was at the receiving end of a brutal onslaught by Rohit Sharma in his very first IPL game for KKR. Rohit, who was playing for Deccan Chargers, smashed Mortaza to all corners of the park and scored more than 20 runs in his last over to win the game for his team.
Andre Nel, who was a very talented hit-the-deck bowler from South Africa, played just one game for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008 and never played in IPL after that.
Mark Wood was a part of the CSK squad in IPL 2018, but he returned home in the middle of the tournament to prepare for the county season. CSK, thereafter, didn’t extend Wood’s contract for the next season.
