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These cricketers failed to establish themselves in the IPL despite playing from Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai Indians remains one of the most high profile teams in the IPL. In terms of fan popularity, they are closest to Chennai Super Kings. Representing the wealthiest city and being owned by India’s richest man has helped in Mumbai Indians’ growing aura. The side was also blessed to have Cricket’s ‘God’ - Sachin Tendulkar in its team in the early years. In the IPL Auctions, Mumbai Indians have frequently emerged out as the smart buyers.
Over the years, the franchises have secured the services of the star players with lucrative offers. Glenn Maxwell, Richard Levi, Evin Lewis are a few examples of that. With a legendary coaching staff by their side, the Mumbai franchise has often extracted the best from its players. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule.
There remain a handful of players whose careers have not flourished despite their stay in the Mumbai team. These players have struggled to perform consistently and have been washed away from the stream. Here are five such players whose careers have dwindled after leaving Mumbai Indians.
#5 Richard Levi
The South African opener was briefly the hottest property in Cricket. Levi rose to instant fame when he struck a blazing 117 not out from just 45 balls against New Zealand in a T20I match. At that point, it was the highest individual score in T20I cricket and the dashing opener became the talk of the town in 2012.
Mumbai Indians promptly secured the services of the South African opener for a hefty sum of $400,000. Richard Levi failed to set the Indian Premier League on fire. Levi played in six matches and the 30-year old accumulated only 83 runs. The opener scored a solitary half-century and had a dreadful time in the rest of the series.
The bowlers found out Levi’s weaknesses against spin and restricted his shots to a specific area very early. Thus the South African struggled and failed to find any success. He was released by the franchise after 2012 season and never played in the IPL again.
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#4 Abhishek Nayar
Abhishek Nayar was an integral part of the Mumbai first-class team until last year. The all-rounder was back in the news in this IPL season as his mentoring skills saw Dinesh Karthik gaining back his mojo. However, Nayar’s own playing career in the IPL came to an abrupt end in the 2015 season when he last represented Rajasthan Royals.
Being a local player, Abhishek Nayar was bought by the Mumbai Indians franchise early in 2008. In the inaugural season, the lefty chipped in with 161 runs at an average of 20.12 and a solitary wicket in 14 matches. He subsequently improved his numbers in the 2009 season. Nayar played only three matches in the 2010 season and then left the Mumbai Indians.
Nayar played next two seasons for Kings XI Punjab and then joined Rajasthan Royals for the 2014 and 2015 IPL seasons. In these four seasons, the Mumbai all-rounder could not exceed the batting average of 15. He was not used effectively with the ball by these franchises. Soon enough, there were no takers for Abhishek Nayar and the seam bowler was out of the IPL by the end of the 2015 season.
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#3 Pragyan Ojha
The left-arm spinner from Hyderabad was one of the most sought-after bowlers in the IPL at a time. Playing for the Deccan Charger, Pragyan Ojha reaped tremendous success in the first four seasons. The zenith of his career was winning the purple cap in the 2010 edition of the IPL. He scalped 21 wickets in 16 matches for the Hyderabad-based team.
In 2012, the left-arm spinner was transferred from Deccan Chargers to Mumbai Indians. Ojha found the success hard to come by at the Mumbai team. He was able to snare only 29 wickets in the 37 matches that he played for MI in his three years from 2012 to 2014.
The tragedy struck Ojha in December 2014 when his bowling action was found to be illegal. The twirler was barred from bowling in competitive cricket. Ojha promptly underwent the test and cleared his action in January 2015. He played only one match for Mumbai Indians in the 2015 season. Since then, Pragyan Ojha has not played any IPL match.
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#2 Vinay Kumar
Karnataka’s premier bowler Vinay Kumar began his IPL career from the inaugural season in 2008 where he represented his local team Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 2011, the medium-pacer was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala. After playing a solitary season, Vinay Kumar returned to Royal Challengers Bangalore for a two-year stint. Kolkata Knight Riders availed his services for a year and traded him off to Mumbai Indians in 2015.
Vinay Kumar represented Mumbai Indians for three subsequent seasons. In 2015, the Karnataka bowler played 13 matches and managed to grab only seven wickets. The franchise found better options, and the medium-pacer was given a chance to feature in only four matches in the next two years. In 2018, he was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for one crore rupees.
IPL 2018 was a horrible outing for Vinay Kumar. He was supposed to spearhead the young bowling attack that the Knight Riders possessed. Instead, Kumar was hammered in both the matches that he played. He conceded 65 runs in four overs and was severely criticized for the match-losing spells. The bowler is under a grave threat of ending up unsold in the 2019 IPL auction.
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#1 Unmukt Chand
The batsman from Delhi enjoyed the perfect possible start to his career. He was the Captain of the Indian Under-19 team that won the World Cup in 2002. Chand scored 94 in the semi-final and 112 in the final to grab in a leading role in the World Cup winning campaign. The young batsman was praised from all quarters and looked all set to follow the path Virat Kohli had laid a few years ago.
Unmukt was first snapped up by his local franchise Delhi Daredevils. After playing two matches each in the first two seasons, Chand received consistent opportunities in 2013 but he failed to embrace them. After playing the next year for Rajasthan Royals, he was bought by Mumbai Indians for the 2015 season.
In six matches, Unmukt Chand managed to score only 102 runs. In IPL 2016, the Delhi batsman played only one match. He ended up unbeaten on 0 from four balls. This proved to be the last match for Unmukt in the IPL. The 25-year old has not gained an IPL contract after leaving Mumbai Indians.
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