The league stage of IPL 2020 has culminated and the fans have got their top four teams of the season now. The Mumbai Indians have topped the standings in this season, while the Delhi Capitals have finished at the second rank for the first time in 13 years.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad stormed into the playoffs with some magnificent performances in the second half of the competition. There is no clear favorite in the playoffs now, but one can say that the Mumbai Indians have an edge over the other three teams. The reason behind it is that the Mumbai-based franchise have performed extremely well in pressure situations.
They have won the last four finals that they have played and the experience in their squad makes them a top contender for the trophy this year. Only the Chennai Super Kings have been successful in retaining their IPL title to date and it will be interesting to see if the Mumbai Indians could join them in this elite club.
Talking about the international players who played in IPL, there were a few big names who could not live up to the expectations. Here’s a look at those five players.
Andre Russell
Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell was the star performer for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last two IPL seasons. In 2019, he single-handedly won games for his franchise. However, the lockdown and the COVID-19 break seem to have had a massive impact on him.
Russell could not impress much while donning the KKR jersey in IPL 2020. He missed a few games due to injury and in the 10 matches that he played, Russell aggregated 117 runs and picked up six wickets only.
MS Dhoni
The captain of the Chennai Super Kings team, MS Dhoni, was playing his first IPL season after retiring from international cricket. Dhoni did not look in the touch that he is known for. The weather conditions also played some role in his disappointing season in 2020.
Speaking of his numbers in IPL 2020, MS Dhoni played in all the 14 league matches for the Chennai Super Kings. He scored only 200 runs for his team and could not touch the 50-runs mark even once. However, he has cleared that he will ‘definitely not’ quit playing in the yellow jersey and will likely be back with a bang in IPL 2021.
Dinesh Karthik
Former Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik did not have his best IPL season in 2020. The right-handed batsman struggled to bat with consistency this season. He even handed over the reins of his team to Eoin Morgan so that he could concentrate on his batting.
Talking about his statistics in IPL 2020, Karthik turned up in 14 games for the 2-time IPL winners, where he could amass only 169 runs. He played a couple of splendid knocks in the season, but a majority of times he failed to touch the double digit score.
Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell became the first foreign player in IPL history to play at least 11 innings for his franchise and still not score a single maximum in the entire season. Known for his big-hitting skills, The Big Show could not clear the boundaries even once in IPL 2020.
The Aussie player received much backing from the Kings XI Punjab team management. He played 13 matches for the IPL 2014 runners-up, aggregating 108 runs and picking only 3 wickets.
Aaron Finch
Australian cricket team captain Aaron Finch played his first IPL season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020. Unlike Glenn Maxwell, Finch at least managed to hit the ball beyond the boundary rope.
Still, his inconsistency hurt RCB a lot as they failed to finish in the Top 2. Finch scored 236 runs in 11 league matches and it will be interesting to see how he performs in the playoffs.
