After the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, it is a good time to look back at the tournament and judge which players had a good time and who didn’t. Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra made a list of players who witnessed a forgettable outing in comparison to their expectations. The cricketer-turned commentator had no mince his words while picking the XI which didn’t have a great season.
He picked up Liam Livingstone and Nicholas Pooran as his openers. A lot was expected of both these players from their franchises, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings. While Livingstone only managed to score 42 runs in five games, Pooran had a horrible start to the season and ended with only 85 runs in 12 matches.
At no. 3, Aakash Chopra picked Suresh Raina. After making this choice, Chopra explained on his youtube channel, “160 runs in 12 matches, an average of 17.7 and strike rate of 125. He is known as Mr. Consistent in IPL. But this year, he had the worst season of his career.”
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At no. 4, Aakash selected the skipper of the runners-up KKR, Eoin Morgan. The Englishman scored only 129 runs in 16 matches. At no. 5, Chopra selected Hardik Pandya who had a poor season as well with the bat. Aakash Chopra explained, “There are much more expectations of Hardik, he is a much better player than this.” Pandya made only 127 runs in 12 matches, with absolutely no returns with the ball. Riyan Parag of Rajasthan Royals was included at no. 6, followed by Hardik’s brother, Krunal Pandya.
After this, Aakash Chopra went with up Kyle Jamieson while highlighting the fact that he came in for a huge contract but managed to pick only nine wickets in nine-match, and eventually, he wasn’t picked in the XI towards the end of the tournament. Another player from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Dan Christian was picked who ended with 14 runs and four wickets in nine matches.
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Aakash Chopra’s underperforming XI: Liam Livingstone, Nicholas Pooran, Suresh Raina, Eoin Morgan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Riyan Parag, Dan Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
