Which triumphed this IPL, expectations or reality

2020 IPL - check

Chennai Super Kings qualification - oops!

Just as that, there were other surprises too, with the tournament showing that any day, any time a Rahul Tewatia may appear in the wild and slash you to a loss. As unexpected as Tewatia was also Andre Russell, who all, by all I mean excluding the KKR fans too expected to lit the tournament up but as it turned out, he was just another all-rounder. 

Out of syllabus IPL and equally out of syllabus events - 

Well, a promotion to the top-order, at his beloved #4 and the result, a paltry 117 runs at an average of 13 and a strike-rate of 144, I’m sure KKR didn’t get him for that cheap a sum. 

Reality- Ishan Kishan with 26 sixes

Expectation- Imran Tahir to retain his purple cap

After watching the CPL action, you surely must have thought the same thing - a 41-year-old Imran Tahir was clearly the best spinner in the competition. He should have lit up the IPL as well right?

That’s unfortunately where reality kicks in, CSK felt that he wasn’t the best use of a foreign pick and instead trusted Watson to come good. In the end, neither did Watson come good nor did Tahir get enough opportunities to overturn CSK’s season. 

Expectation - Ravindra Jadeja to be top wicket-taker

Reality - Ravindra Jadeja CSK's top finisher

While the bread was stale, Jadeja instead took a liking to the cereal or what you call as the finisher role, where he excelled. For CSK, the left-handed batsman scored 232 runs, his best run-tally since 2011 for CSK at a strike-rate of 171.85, his best!

Oh, things are getting complicated here, just as the play-off scenarios but don’t worry, I got it for you. Siraj was expected to be the ‘trolled’ version of himself while Navdeep Saini was expected to be a charming version for RCB. 

Reality - Siraj = key ; Saini = punching bag

Expectation - Shreyas Gopal would turn up big time for RR

A 20-wicket season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and immediately all eyes went to how awfully similar he was bowling to Anil Kumble. This IPL, he wasn’t even the ‘S’ of Shreyas, in what could have been a career-defining season for him, that ultimately ended in a trolling session.  

Of course, if there was ever someone who could pull off a Tewtia, it is Rahul, now you would have heard the name for sure. 255 runs, a staggering season with the bat and 10 wickets, equally good with the ball, the year is very well going to be named ‘Tewatia’ and we won’t have any problem with it. 

Expectation - Aaron Finch a bargain

Reality - Finch a liability

That’s precisely what it was, a Rs 4.40 crore loss for RCB in the best of tournaments for them. An opener, a captain or a good fielder? RCB couldn’t quite figure out what he was and by the time they did, they dropped him for a better opener.

He did live up to the nickname and put on a stark performance for the Kings, who were narrowly on the edge of getting eliminated from the tournament because of his performance, Remember Tewatia? Well, he’s earned that name all because of how bad Cottrell was, no offence!

Reality: An ‘rich’ Nortje

Expectation: Deepak Chahar’s ‘eye’ for swing

There is a tinge of movement and Deepak Chahar strikes early for Chennai Super Kings, a thing that the fans are so used to listening to in the past. The last word still remains the ‘key,’ past but this season he hasn’t done anything remarkable which just made it a big loss for the Super Kings. 

Not sure about Sia and her Chandelier but I’m sure Sandeep Sharma with his performance has lit up the tournament like never before, making even the best of batsmen - Virat Kohli his bunny. 13 wickets at an average of 24.84 and an economy of 7.34. 

Expectation - Bumrah ‘yorker’ specialist

Reality - Natrajan nails the ‘spot’

Just as a hammer powerfully nails stuff, Thangarasu Natrajan’s performance was ‘nailing’ the yorkers day in and day out. So much so during the first phase of the tournament, he already had 40 yorkers bagged, which later turned 60 and now a regular feature, that everyone has stopped counting. 

Oh man, we expected this to happen, at least if not under Dinesh Karthik, under the leadership of Eoin Morgan. But as it turned out, Kuldeep Yadav was not even the best spinner in the team, falling miles if not countries away from their best spinners - Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. 

Reality - CV Varun is their best bowler

Expectation - Rishabh Pant to seal India’s wicket-keeper spot

Something I would have loved to happen but Rishabh Pant’s different approach, one that we have never seen in his career has taken his career for the good and burnt it 20%. Now if you look at the stats, it won’t give you the same impression but a Pant, with a strike-rate of 112.35 is just not even half-good.  

Just four games, just 68 runs behind Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha is having a crazy IPL season, after being introduced to replace Jonny Bairstow. Now that’s a big-big ask from the right-hander to replace the English opener at the top. A strike-rate of 139.86, an average of 71.33, and a glovework like never before, Saha really had a better season than Pant, no two ways about it!

Expectation: CSK to reach playoff and Dhoni to get a great send-off

Reality: Dhoni tarnishes his legacy and CSK finish 7th

As it turns out, the reality was distasteful to the fans, who were glad that the team didn’t finish last, a record that they would not love having. Thankfully for RR’s poor show in their last encounter, Chennai didn’t finish last but in short, Dhoni did tarnish a legacy that he built.