FunnyNLol: 6 Players Who Have Been Misused By Their IPL Franchises

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Too many cooks spoil the broth. That is an adage absolutely true for IPL where most teams are loaded with a bigger battalion of coaching staff than players. The result is that there is no dearth of ideas, some really strange ones, some baffling ones too. Yes, sometimes players going up and down, some new players picked, some legendary ones dropped makes for exciting viewing. Then, there are times when you know that genuinely good players are languishing nowhere.

Some teams rotate their teams so often and so much, it is hard for fans and followers to even remember what team had played a few games ago. Besides, it could severely dent the players' confidence too, turning match-winners to duds. The transformation of Glenn Maxwell hardly getting a chance at Mumbai Indians to being a trailblazer at Kings XI Punjab is a great example of how reputations and careers are built and destroyed thanks to coaching decisions.

Let's take a look at 6 players who are currently underutilized by their teams:

#1 David Miller - Kings XI PunjabHe announced his arrival orchestrating a back-from-the-dead victory for Kings XI Punjab. Miller, in that game, had scored a 38 ball century against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The South Africa international is a regular fixture of the supremely talented national side and played a couple of fascinating innings even in the recently concluded World Cup. His 18-ball knock in the semi-finals, although in a losing cause, was an example of his power-hitting. His talent also came to the fore in a ton against Zimbabwe in the tournament opener.

However, at Kings XI Punjab, he is being moved around quite a bit. A man who must be an immovable object at No. 5 strangely walked in after Axar Patel against Rajasthan Royals. In their latest loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, Miller was dropped in favour of Thisara Perera, who although a power-hitter and a reasonable all-rounder, doesn’t have the batting class of Miller. This is definitely not the way you tinker with the contributions of a genuine match-winner.

#2 Manoj Tiwary - Delhi DaredevilsDelhi Daredevils, captained by JP Duminy, has unearthed an excellent talent in the form of Shreyas Iyer. Yet, the team that has won a couple of tight games and lost a few tight ones, has grossly underutilized former Indian national and a talented Bengal player Manoj Tiwary.

Tiwary, who rose to fame playing quite a few match-winning innings for Kolkata Knight Riders, has batted at times below Kedar Jadhav. With no disrespect to the Daredevils wicket-keeper, Tiwary deserves better than that with a strike-rate around 115 and an average close to 30. While the middle order is packed with Duminy, Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews, Tiwary needs to walk in at No. 6, at least.

#3 Ambati Rayudu - Mumbai IndiansIn one of the most bizarre selection calls this season, Ambati Rayudu was left out of the Mumbai Indians’ team that lost to Rajasthan Royals. There was no news of an injury and it felt strange that Rayudu was dropped in favor of players like Unmukt Chand and Parthiv Patel (considering Rayudu has kept wickets for the greater part of an entire season previously).

Part of the Indian squad for the World Cup, spending the whole tournament on the bench, Rayudu is a volatile player, but loaded with talent. Averaging 24 and with a strike rate over 120, it was a travesty that Rayudu walked in at No. 7 in Mumbai’s loss to the Chennai Super Kings in their latest match. Rayudu, who made name with MI, picked after the Indian Cricket League, ICL, amnesty would hope for a more stable position and opportunity and that could help Mumbai Indians’ terrible campaign so far as well!

#4 Dale Steyn - Sunrisers HyderabadDale Steyn eventually got a game at the expense of Trent Boult against Delhi Daredevils, a game which Sunrisers Hyderabad lost narrowly. Steyn ended the match with his head held high with figures of 1-27. It must be a strange predicament for David Warner and Tom Moody with two world-class bowlers in the squad, Trent Boult and Dale Steyn. Boult has garnered figures of 1-31, 3-36 and 1-34 in the three games.

It is strange, though, that the Sunrisers look at it as a Boult or Steyn question. The question they should ask themselves is who their four best foreign players are. Captain David Warner is a sure starter and with Ravi Bopara contributing with the bat, Steyn and Boult would both edge out Eoin Morgan, who is out of form at the moment. True, Hyderabad wants to beef up its weak batting department, but that shouldn’t be done at the expense of a bowler, who if supported from the other end can lead his side to victory.

In fact, Hyderabad with their poor batting options, will be better served to beef up their bowling with Praveen and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With Karn Sharma and Bhuvneshwar both capable of batting a bit, SRH will be well served with five genuine bowlers. In spite of his lackluster World Cup and lukewarm form, Steyn is, arguably, the world’s best fast bowler and Boult is a classy, left-arm swing bowler who cannot be left out.

#5 Rohit Sharma - Mumbai IndiansIt is a sign of fear that Mumbai Indians have moved down their best batsman by two-days’ worth of light from opening to No. 4. Rohit Sharma opens for India and has shown how successful he could be at the top. True, Mumbai have a weak middle order, but Rohit showed in the first game how valuable he could be with all 20 overs at his disposal, scoring 98*. At No. 4 he has scored a half-century too, but most bowlers would rather want to bowl to Parthiv Patel than Rohit Sharma in the powerplay.

With Ambati Rayudu at No. 4, Corey Anderson at No. 5 and Kieron Pollard at No. 6, MI will have a reasonably good middle order. Rohit and Lendl Simmons will make a good opening pair. The conservative decision looks stranger with Ricky Ponting being the coach, a man known for his aggression and attacking instinct.

#6 AB de Villiers - Royal Challengers BangaloreChasing 177 against KKR, AB de Villiers walked into bat at No.5, with the required run rate already touching 10. Against SRH, he walked in at No.4 in the 11th over. Chasing a mammoth 209 against MI, he walked into bat in the 11th over when the run-rate was more than 14.

There is a reason why RCB have never won the title, especially in the last few years when they have had a great team. They can be bull-headed and at the moment they are making an absolute mess of AB’s skills by sending him in impossible situations. Exactly why he cannot walk in at No.3 is something no one knows. Why Dinesh Karthik should walk in ahead of him, no one knows either. Exactly why can de Villiers not be given some more time to get his eye in, no one knows.

The South African ODI captain has responded with a couple of 40s. Against MI, he managed 41 in just 11 balls. Imagine if he had walked in, in the 5th or 6th over, with the chase still well on. He could have probably made a meal of the target. RCB simply have to let him bat up the order.

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