IPL 2018: Rating the 3 retired international players who played this year

Indian Premier League has given a stage to the retired international players to stay in touch with the game and bring their experience to the team. It has now become a trend that players who retire from international cricket keep on playing in T20 leagues around the globe.

While some of them are signed as potential players, most of the retired players are signed by the T20 franchises more as mentors who brings experience to the team. Three players who have retired from all forms of international cricket were part of the IPL this year.

Here's a look at how they have fared in the season:

Note: AB de Villiers is not included in the list as he took retirement after the league stage of this year's IPL.

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#3 Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Johnson who is Australia's best fast bowler after Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee took retirement from international cricket in 2015. It was surprising to see Johnson's name in the IPL players' auction list this year as his performance has gone downhill in the recent times.

The speedster failed to find a bidder in the first round of the auction but was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the later round for his base price of Rs. 2 crore. Although the Kolkata based franchise relied on Mitchell Starc to lead the pace attack his unfortunate injury meant Johnson had to undertake the responsibilities.

Johnson was ineffective with the ball in the initial games and was thus dropped from the team. He returned again in the match against Delhi Daredevils only to be dropped again after four games.

Overall, he took just 2 wickets at a poor economy of 10.28 in the 6 matches that he played this season. Johnson kept on leaking runs and struggled taking wickets. It looks like his future in the IPL is uncertain and he might remain unsold in the auction next year.

Rating: 2/10

#2 Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum, one of the hardest hitters of the ball had a below average season for Royal Challengers Bangalore. McCullum was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs. 3.6 crore, which is far less than what a player of his caliber deserves.

The New Zealander started the tournament on a high hitting a 43 off 27 balls and it looked like the Bangalore team has hit a jackpot. Unfortunately, McCullum remained silent for the rest of the matches and had to be dropped from the team.

Overall, he played in 6 matches in which he scored 127 runs at an average of 21.16 and a strike rate of 144.31. McCullum's future in the IPL depends upon how he fares in other T20 leagues around the world.

Rating: 5/10

#1 Shane Watson

Shane Watson, the Australian all-rounder played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2016 and the 2017 seasons. Although he was impressive in the 2016 season he fared poorly in the 2017 season and thus was released by the team.

Watson was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for Rs. 4 crore and he turned out to be one of the most valuable players in the season. The team experimented by promoting him to open the innings and the experiment turned out to be a huge success.

In the 15 matches that he played in the season, he scored 555 runs at a strike rate of 154.59. Watson ended up 5th on the list of highest run scorers in the season. Also, he took 6 wickets in as many matches at an economy of 8.96.

He scored 2 centuries in the season and one of those came in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad which helped his team win the title. The way he played in the season, he looks fit to play in 2-3 more IPL seasons.

Rating: 8.5/10