IPL 2018: 11 cricketers who had a forgettable IPL

8) Stuart Binny (5 batting innings, 44 runs, S/R of 112.82; 1 bowling innings, 0 wickets, E/R of 16.50)

Wish this was a gif, so we could see Stuart Binny hit the ball.

You might not believe me, but I really wanted Binny to succeed. He has been on the fringe for what seems like an eternity now. I thought reuniting with his former franchise (where he enjoyed moderate success) would bring out his old best, which to reiterate again is moderate success for a T20 player like him who is unexpected to shoulder either batting or bowling responsibilities. I was wrong. Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Deepak Chahar, Tim Southee and Rashid Khan all scored more runs than him this season. With the ball, only Vinay Kumar had an economy rate worse than him. Binny conceded 9 runs off his first two balls of the season without conceding a six, which I am assuming is some kind of a record but one that I can’t be bothered/have no idea how to check. To be fair, he lured Watson into edging a ball in the same over which Rahul Tripathi promptly dropped. Watson went on to score a century and Binny would bowl only one more over in the entire tournament. Oh Stuart!

9) Mitchell Johnson (6 bowling innings, 2 wickets, E/R of 10.28)

Big Bash League might be the only competition where we get to see Johnson again.

The mighty Mitch, the Mo, 60th of his name and the breaker of English bones. It has been 54 months since the iconic 2013 Ashes, the adulations of which still keep pouring in and rightly so but we might have seen the last of Johnson in the IPL. On an average, Johnson went for 41 runs off his four overs without picking up a wicket this IPL. For each of his wicket, he conceded 108 runs (worst amongst all bowlers this IPL, even Vinay Kumar). It is easy to forget that he bowled a critical last over in the IPL 2017 final but would it really be Mitchell Johnson if not for his extravagant anomalies. Commiserations to those who thought he could be a potential replacement for Mitchell Starc just because he is another left-arm fast bowler from Australia.