After two months of highly competitive cricket, IPL 2024 ended with Kolkata Knight Riders becoming the champions for the third time. Like every season, there have been names who shot to fame from obscurity as well as players, who couldn't deliver on their potential. Here’s an IPL 2024 flop XI of individuals who underperformed in the competition.

Ajinkya Rahane (Chennai Super Kings)

Ajinkya Rahane’s sinking IPL career got a lifeline in Chennai’s title-winning 2023 campaign but lost its way thereafter. Rahane’s timid, outdated approach proved detrimental to his side’s scoring in the powerplay when most teams looked to tee off from the word go. He scored 242 runs in 13 matches at an average of 20.16, with the highest of 45. What led to his criticism is his strike rate of 123.46

David Warner (Delhi Capitals)

Warner scored  29, 49, and 52 in his first three innings but lost touch after that, managing just 38 runs in his next five. Warner ended with 168 runs at 21 and 134.40, his worst season since 2009 in the IPL. The southpaw also picked an injury midway through the tournament. When he returned, Delhi gave him a match before opting for explosive Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)

Maxwell’s IPL career has been of more misses than hits. It was Bengaluru where he found some consistency, having scored 513, 301 and 400 runs for the franchise in the past three seasons. Was expected to replicate his fine form from the the ODI World Cup last year, which included a historic double hundred, but underperformed woefully. Maxwell also asked for a break midway through the season to refresh himself physically and mentally but it made no difference. From 10 games, he only scored 52 runs at an average of 5.78 and a strike-rate of 120.93.

Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians)

Pandya’s homecoming to his debut franchise as a captain was not a happy one. Replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain but failed to fulfil the expectations and often faced heavy criticism. The all-rounder’s lean run is well reflected in Mumbai Indians’ bottom finish in the points table.

He scored 216 runs at 18, including a best of 46. With the ball, he struggled as well, managing only 11 wickets while leaking 10.75 runs per over. Pandya was perhaps the biggest letdown this year, which makes him the captain of this XI.

Liam Livingstone (Punjab Kings)

One of the marquee signings for Punjab, Livingstone never seemed like living up to the hype in his side’s teetering campaign. He also missed a few matches due to a niggle. In seven matches, Livingstone scored 111 runs at 22.20 at 142.31. His bowling figures weren’t impressive either, ending the season with three scalps.

Rinku Singh (Kolkata Knight Riders)

After a breakthrough season last year, Rinku was touted to scale new heights but couldn't. The dashing left-hander scored only 168 runs from 14 matches at 18.67, leading to his omission from India's 15 at the 2024 T20 World Cup. Though he has been included in the reserves, what can be argued in Rinku’s favour is Kolkata’s top order mostly called the shots, resulting in his underutilisation as a batter.

Jitesh Sharma (Punjab Kings)

Jitesh has himself to blame for falling out of the wicketkeeping race in India’s T20 World Cup squad despite being well in contention at the start. He was unable to emulate his IPL 2023 exploits lower down the order. Contrary to his numbers from last time, when he scored 309 runs at 156.06, he had to settle for 187 runs from 14 matches this time. His strike-rate also dropped to 131.69. His best of 32 not out came in PBKS' last league match when he was captaining against the Sunrisers.

Shardul Thakur (Chennai Super Kings)

Shardul Thakur relinked with Chennai Super Kings in the 2024 auction to bolster their domestic pace-arsenal and lower-order batting. After being benched initially, Thakur was given opportunities but only returned five wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 9.75. With the bat, he didn’t do anything noteworthy either, scoring only 21 runs. His best of 2-61 came in their last group game against Bengaluru.

Deepak Chahar (Chennai Super Kings)

Another CSK bowler with a lacklustre season affected their title defence badly. Chahar was also out of action for some matches due to a fitness issue. Across eight matches, he took five wickets at 40.40 apiece and an economy rate of 28.20 to cap off a wobbly tournament.

Rashid Khan (Gujarat Titans)

Rashid being inconsistent hurt Gujarat's chances. He ended with 10 wickets at 36.70 apiece, his worst year at the tournament. His lack of penetration with the bowl was one of the reasons why Gujrat finished eighth.

Anrich Nortje (Delhi Capitals)

Anrich Nortje’s return from a long injury layoff clashed with an IPL year, which saw unprecedented scoring rates. Nortje scalped seven times in six games and conceded runs at an economy rate of 13.36, the worst among specialist bowlers in 2024. In another unwanted season record, he was hit for 32 runs in an over by Mumbai Indians' Romario Shepherd.

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