With the Indian team being selected for the World Cup, it is important to asses their current performance in the Indian Premier League. Current performance plays a significant role in shaping up a player's confidence and their ability to withstand the weight of expectations in the marquee tournament. While players like Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuzvendra Chahal and Virat Kohli are performing exceedingly well, there are quite a few players who have disappointed their franchise and their fans. Midway through this season of IPL the performance of these cricketers has been way below their potential and they need to do a lot in order to justify their selection for the world cup. Let us take a look at the performance of these four cricketers. #1 Dinesh Karthik For a man who is known to make repeated comebacks into the Indian team, Dinesh Karthik's record in this edition of IPL has been below par. Being the captain, he needs to set an example to the team by batting higher up the order. Out of nine innings so far, he has managed to cross 50 just once and moreover his strike rate this season is just 118.08 which is not acceptable from a finisher. Perhaps, his selection into the world cup might have erupted several arguments from fans who wished to have Rishabh Pant into the squad. Karthik needs to prove them wrong and this his last opportunity. VIVO IPL 2019 Record Matches: 9, Runs: 111, Average: 18.50, Strike Rate: 118.08, Highest Score: 50 #2 Vijay Shankar Vijay Shankar Having gotten a lot opportunities to bat at number three or four for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Vijay Shankar has failed to grab any of those opportunities. With SRH heavily dependent on David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for runs, Shankar has failed to rise up to the occasion time and again. Out of eight innings so far, Shankar has never managed to cross half century even once. Maybe now that the pressure of World Cup selection is off, one can expect him to deliver an innings just as a number four batsman of an Indian team would. VIVO IPL 2019 Record Matches: 8 , Runs: 139 , Average: 19.85, Strike Rate: 123.00, Highest score: 40* 1 / 2 NEXT<doc-sep>The Indian squad for the upcoming cricket World Cup this month was announced in April with a core group of players narrowed down to the final 15. While this 2019 World Cup squad was among the most easy to predict, with 12-13 of the 15 slots all but assured, there were a couple of names that raised questions. The confusion over the No 4 batsman continued as Ambati Rayudu was dropped. All-rounder Vijay Shankar is expected to take up the crucial role. The biggest debate leading up to the squad announcement was the choice of the second wicketkeeper and the selectors made a tough call by selecting Dinesh Karthik, despite his poor recent form with the bat in the Indian Premier League, over young Rishabh Pant. Pant had been in better form and seemed like the better choice on paper but the selectors opted for Karthik’s experience. The World Cup begins on 30 May, a couple of weeks after the end of the Indian Premier League, with India playing their first match on 5 June against South Africa, Here’s a look at the final 15 and how they fared in the IPL, before and after selection. This list will be updated on a daily basis during the IPL season.<doc-sep>IPL 2019: The candidates to replace outgoing Australian, England and South African cricketers The exodus of overseas players, chiefly from England, Australia and South Africa, has begun in IPL 2019. Englishman Jos Buttler flew home last week for the birth of his child and will not return to play for Rajasthan Royals, while his team-mates Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer are due to leave India to link up with Buttler and the England limited-overs squad for series before the World Cup. Jonny Bairstow signed off his strong IPL 2019 campaign in Sunrisers Hyderabads‘ six-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday and will return to England. Also due to leave the IPL are the recalled Australian pair of Steve Smith and David Warner, while from the South African contingent Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, Quinton de Kock and Imran Tahir are expected to depart India in the next week or ten days. Smith and Warner will fly back to Australia to attend a pre-World Cup camp in Brisbane, having both returned to the defending champions’ squad for the tournament. Moeen Ali is another who will leave for England this week, leaving Royal Challengers Bangalore without their best allrounder. And with Marcus Stoinis also due to return to Australia, RCB will be further depleted. So who will replace these big names? Let’s review the squads. SUNRISERS HYDERABAD New Zealand opener Martin Guptill had been identified as the player to step in once Bairstow left, but the SRH management also has to add a wicketkeeper. Their options are Wriddhiman Saha and Sreevats Goswami. Guptill for Bairstow is a straightforward swap, but SRH need to drop an Indian batsman to get in Saha or Goswami. Yusuf Pathan looks like the man to get the chop, since he has not been scoring many runs and does not bowl in the IPL any more. With Warner set to leave in a week, SRH can play Kane Williamson once he gets back from New Zealand, having flown home after the death of his grandmother. SRH are fourth on the points table, and if Orange Cap holder Warner is available for two more matches – April 27 and 29 – the team will need him to score heavily to boost their chances of reaching the IPL playoffs. Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Nabi are two all-round options too, but how do you replace the form of Bairstow (445 runs at 55.62) and Warner (574 runs at 71.75)? RAJASTHAN ROYALS Like SRH, this team will be very hard hit. Without Smith, Buttler, Stokes and Archer the Rajasthan Royals management have options in Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Ish Sodhi and Oshane Thomas. None, however, offers what the aforementioned four players do. As we saw in 2018, once Buttler and Stokes left, Rajasthan stumbled in the IPL playoffs. This time around their playoff chances hang by a thread and the loss of four vital overseas players could signal the end of their campaign. Smith is expected to be around for one week, which means he should play three more games: on April 26, 27 and 30. A big worry is the lack of runs from Australian Turner, who has three golden ducks in a row this season. ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE With 216 runs at a strike-rate of 168.75 and five wickets at an economy of 6.68, Moeen has been a utility player for RCB. As the bottom-placed franchise seeks to win all their remaining matches to qualify for the IPL playoffs, Moeen’s loss will be felt. With Moeen and Stoinis out, the team has Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer and Tim Southee to choose from. CHENNAI SUPER KINGS Tahir is their leading wicket-taker, so that will be a huge void to fill once he leaves India. South Africa’s captain du Plessis has made a few handy contributions while opening the innings for CSK, but the team has Sam Billings to fall back on. MUMBAI INDIANS Wwhenever de Kock leaves, Mumbai Indians can turn to Evin Lewis, the big-hitting West Indies opener, and get Ishan Kishan to keep wickets. The three-time winners will let go of Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff, who has taken five wickets in five matches. The likely swap will be New Zealand quick Mitchell McClenaghan who has warmed the bench for weeks, and they also have Beuran Hendricks, who on Tuesday was added a replacement for the injured Alzarri Joseph. DELHI CAPITALS Once their strike bowler and holder of the Purple Cap for most wickets, Kagiso Rabada, leaves to join his South African team-mates, DC will call on Trent Boult. KINGS XI PUNJAB South African David Miller is expected to leave before the tournament ends, which means that KXIP will have to pick from Nicholas Pooran and Moises Henriques. KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS The only player that KKR are going to lose is Joe Denly, the England allrounder, in the next couple of days. But Denly only played one match, in which he was bowled first ball.<doc-sep>As many as six English players taking part in the ongoing IPL XII will return to England by the set deadline of April 26 missing the business end of the tournament. While five of them – Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Joe Denly have been named in England’s 15-member World Cup squad, Jofra Archer has made it to the England limited-overs’ squad for the Pakistan ODI series. Rajasthan Royals, already second-last in the points table, will be the most affected with three players – Buttler, Stokes and Archer – leaving for national duty. Both, their leading run-getter and wicket-taker (thus far) will board the plane back to England. Buttler is the leading run-getter for RR and the fifth-highest overall in IPL XII thus far with 311 runs in 8 innings at an average of 38.87 and strike rate of 151.7. Jofry Archer is the leading wicket-taker for RR with 10 wickets in 8 innings at 21 apiece. He has also been very economical conceding just 6.77 runs per over. He has been excellent at the death (overs 16-20) with 60% of his wickets for RR coming in this phase of play. 32.05% of his deliveries are dot balls which means that almost every third delivery he bowls at the death is a dot ball. His economy rate of 8.85 is also quite good for this phase of the innings. While Ben Stokes hasn’t had the best IPL season with no game-changing performance with the bat or ball, he did glimpses of his potential with his 26-ball 46 against CSK. Sunrisers will miss the services of Jonny Bairstow – their second-highest scorer – with 304 runs in 7 innings at an average of 43.42 and strike rate of 156.70 in his debut IPL year. Moeen Ali has had a decent showing for RCB this season. His 124 runs batting in the lower middle-order have come at a rate of 147.61 while he has also been very economical with the ball with an economy of just 6.38. Joe Denly was out for a golden duck in the only match he played for Kolkata Knight Riders against Delhi Capitals. Both, Buttler and Bairstow have outstanding ODI records for England. While the former has scored 3387 runs in 105 innings at an average of 40.80 and astonishing strike rate of 118.34 – the second-highest in ODI history (min. 2000 runs), Bairstow is one of the most feared openers in contemporary ODI cricket. He has scored 2118 runs in just 54 innings at an average of 46.04 and strike rate of 105, including 6 hundreds. Buttler has an exceptional T20 record too and aggregates 5708 runs in 228 T20 innings at an average of 30.52 and strike rate of 144.43. Bairstow has scored 2070 runs in 94 innings at an average of 26.88 and strike rate of 131.26 in his T20 career. Stokes has the experience of playing over 100 T20 matches and has scored in excess of 2000 runs in the format while also chipping in with crucial breakthroughs with the ball. Ali aggregates 2707 runs at a strike rate of 135.41 in 125 T20 matches and has also picked 89 wickets at an economy rate of 7.6. Archer has been brilliant with the ball in the format with his ability to pick wickets having picked 115 wickets in just 86 innings at 22.26 apiece at a strike rate of 16.9. Denly is a veteran of 203 T20s having scored in excess of 5000 runs in the format.<doc-sep>
IPL 2019: ECB directs Jofra Archer and other England players to return by April 26 Rajasthan Royals will miss their three key players. England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the team’s 15-man preliminary squad for the World Cup. Along with that they also picked Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan for the upcoming Pakistan ODI series. With the international assignments set to start, England’s players participating in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) will have to leave the tournament early now. The ECB has directed the players to return to the country on or before April 26 according to the statement on their official website. The team affecting the most would be the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer will miss out for them. Sam Billings is with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and he will also return. Though he hasn’t played a game so far this season and won’t affect that team’s chances much. SRH will also suffer Meanwhile, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will also suffer as their wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow will leave for England in the next few days. They have the likes of Wriddhiman Saha and Shreevats Goswami in the squad as well and one of them will surely come into the playing XI. Even David Warner will also leave soon and then Martin Guptill is likely to get an opportunity. Though it remains to be seen who gets the chance to open the innings. Will it be the Kiwi duo of Williamson and Guptill at the top of the order? Or it will be Saha or Goswami assisting Guptill? SRH are currently at the sixth position with three wins from seven matches and they would love to notch up a few more wins before their gun players leave. The case for the Royals will even get worse as Steve Smith will leave them on May 2 along with Warner but they look unlikely to make it to the playoffs this year. [interaction id=”5cb5c7d16fdf9a9036e425e8″]