Top 5 expensive players who failed to impress in IPL 2023

We take a look at the top five expensive players of IPL 2023 who underperformed in the season.

The IPL 2023 was certainly a roller coaster. The tournament witnessed several highs and lows. We had young guns firing out of nowhere. On one side we had Shubman Gill taking over the reins and on the other side, Virat Kohli did maximum damage once again. We also had players like Rinku Singh producing some brilliance with the bat that turned the course of the game for KKR on multiple occasions. On the other hand, we also had top players failing to live up to their potential.

During the auction before the tournament, there were several players who made heads turn and grabbed big contracts with the franchises. However, they couldn't prove themselves in the biggest league stage in the cricketing world. It is going to be interesting to see if teams retain the players for the next season.

Here are a few expensive players who failed to leave a mark in the IPL 2023:

Sam Curran

During the IPL 2023 auction, Sam Curran became the most expensive buy in the history of the Indian Premier League. The young all-rounder, who was one of the major reasons for England's win in the recent T20 World Cup, went for a whopping INR 18.50 Crore in the auction. Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings had a bidding war for the England star and Punjab won the battle finally. However, Curran managed only 276 runs at 135.96 and picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 10.22. Considering he was the most expensive buy, the numbers were below par.

Harry Brook

Harry Brook is another cricketer who couldn't live up to the expectation in the IPL 2023. The England batter came into the auction after scoring 809 runs in his nine Test innings. Most importantly, everything came against some of the best bowlers of the format. So, when he entered the auction, the demand for him was pretty big, and eventually, he went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 Crores. However, he couldn't grab a lot of runs except for a ton against Kolkata Knight Riders. After the knock, he ended up scoring three ducks as well. The England batter managed to score only 190 runs at a 123.37 strike rate. He featured only in 11 matches for the franchise.

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal was the highest-paid Indian in the IPL 2023 auction. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings had a bidding war for the Indian opener, and eventually, Sunrisers Hyderabad grabbed him for INR 8.25 Crore. However, the move to the south didn't bring him any fortune as Agarwal managed only 270 runs in his ten matches with just one half-century. His strike rate was around 129. The experienced Indian batter had a season to forget.

Dinesh Karthik

Royal Challengers Bangalore trusted Dinesh Karthik and retained him after his performance in the last edition. Karthik played the perfect finisher role for the Bangalore team and helped them win several matches in the last edition. He smashed 330 runs in his 16 games and played a pivotal role in the team's performance. However, his recent performance in IPL 2023 was a forgettable one for the keeper. Karthik managed to score only 140 runs from his 13 appearances, and he averaged 16.88. The Tamil Nadu batter also broke an unwanted record in the season. He became the player with the most number of ducks in the history of IPL.

Andre Russell

Andre Russell has been a star for Kolkata Knight Riders over the years now. He has produced some match-winning performances for the two-time champions. However, this season turned out to be a poor one for someone of his standards. The all-rounder gathered only 227 runs in his 14 matches at an average of 20.64. He bowled in 9 out of the 14 matches but managed to pick up only 7 wickets at an economy rate of 11.34.