Top 5 most overrated 'T20 specialists' in cricket

4. Richard Levi

Richard Levi

Richard Levi announced himself on the international stage with a record match-winning knock of 117 off 51 deliveries against the New Zealanders. That was the second T20I of his career. This Saffer dasher has gone on to play thirteen of them but managed to score just one half century in rest of the eleven.

Hardly two T20s into his international career and he finds himself being compared with the likes of Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum.

The reality dawned upon him as he encountered unfamiliar conditions and potent bowling attacks. The English pace pack exposed his technical frailties as Levi could compose just 9 runs in the three-match T20 series. In the previous edition of World T20, he debunked himself further – scoring 62 runs in four matches including one half-century.

IPL 2012 didn’t do his stature any good either. The sluggish Indian wickets served as clear-cut evidence to the fact of him being a slogger. The Mumbai Indian recruit compiled 83 runs from 6 games with the highest of 50 against Chennai Super Kings. Him going unsold in this year’s IPL auction explains for itself, a sorry tale.

At the domestic level, Levi sports 3 tons and 13 half-tons in 99 games. However, at the highest level, an average of 21.45 in 13 T20Is certainly doesn’t make for a good reading, by any stretch of imagination, especially considering that the player being referred to is an opener.

Levi is still 26. So, all isn’t over for this talented dasher. However, what his career hitherto exemplifies the importance of technique and adaptation. And of course senseless ballyhoo in the cricketing circles.