This is the eighth in a series of features where we will be taking a detailed dive into the various factors that stood out during the course of the Indian T20 League 2020 season.
While some players were at the top of their form in the recently concluded edition of the Indian T20 League, there were some others who didn't live up to their potential and underperformed massively. Here, we take a look at those struggling players who can be expected to come back stronger in the next edition.
Brett Lee offers an empathetic view on the matter. "As someone who’s been in the thick of the action, I know every cricketer at this level gives it their all. But sometimes, it just doesn’t translate into results on the pitch.
"This Indian T20 League season also put some players through the wringer but I’m confident they will come back stronger for it. Andre Russell's failure to deliver the goods with the bat for Kolkata certainly sits high on my list of unfulfilled expectations, especially after his terrific showings with the bat in the previous season. The same goes for Aaron Finch, who endured an uncharacteristic lack of form. While these boys have their work cut out for them to figure out what went wrong, I’m confident that players of their calibre will surely bounce back."
Rohit Sharma
The Mumbai skipper did score over 300 runs this season and a match-winning fifty in the final as well. However, he looked in pretty bad touch in most of the games. Rohit averaged 27.66 in the season but if we take his three fifties out of his total run tally, we'll see that his remaining 114 runs came at a meagre average of only 12.67.
That's a pretty poor performance by his standards and is certainly not something that is expected from a player of his calibre. He is the most experienced player in the Mumbai setup. They did win the title this season, despite his poor performance. But that is not going to happen every year and that's why Rohit needs to make a strong comeback in the next season.
Aaron Finch
The Australian top-order batsman was mainly brought into the Bangalore setup to sort out their opening woes. The team had been lacking quick starts in the past couple of seasons and Finch's explosive nature of batting seemed like a possible solution.
However, Finch failed big time as he struggled to get them off to quick starts. He scored at a strike-rate of only 111.20 in the season, amassing a total of just 268 runs. His average of 22.33 sums up that he couldn't give Bangalore big returns either. His performances were so poor that he was dropped from the XI towards the business end of the tournament. However, he is a much better player than what his tournament statistics show and will surely look to make a strong comeback in the next edition.
Andre Russell
One of the major reasons behind Kolkata's struggles this season was Andre Russell's no show with the bat. The Caribbean all-rounder scored only 117 runs in nine innings at a dismal average of 13.00. That was nowhere close to his returns of 510 runs in the 2019 edition of the tournament.
Teams had pretty much figured out Russell's weaknesses this season. Bowlers peppered him with short balls and yorkers, and the Jamaican fell prey to their strategy every time. He was a bit better with his bowling, at least as compared to other Kolkata bowlers. However, six wickets at an economy rate of 9.72 don't make for good reading either.
