Over the past few years, there have been a number of players in the Indian Premier League who arrive with significant hype, but fade away as the tournament proceeds. Two more significant players in this list are Rajasthan Royals' new captain Sanju Samson, and Royal Challengers Bangalore's Glenn Maxwell.
Samson had a brilliant start to the 2020 edition of the tournament; he scored a 32-ball 74 in the opening game of the tournament against Chennai Super Kings, and followed it up with a 42-ball 85 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). With 159 runs in his first two matches already, Samson looked set for a stellar season in 2020.
However, in the next 12 matches, the RR wicketkeeper-batsman could only score 212 more runs, eventually ending the season with 375 runs in 14 games at an average of 28.84.
Maxwell, meanwhile, endured one of his worst outings in a franchise league in the previous edition. The Australian, who represented the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), scored only 108 runs in 12 games for the side with a strike-rate of only 101. To put his performance in perspective, Maxwell has already scored 98 runs in the first two games for RCB this season.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that these two players can finally shed their 'Mr Inconsistent' tag in IPL this year.
"There are early signs that the infamous 'Mr Inconsistent' of the IPL -- Glenn Maxwell and Sanju Samson, are going to come good in this season of the tournament," Manjrekar said in India TV's post-match show 'Cricket Dhamaka'.
Samson scored an incredible 117-run knock in the opening game of the tournament for Rajasthan Royals against Punjab Kings, while Maxwell has played crucial knocks of 39 (against Mumbai Indians) and 59 (against Sunrisers Hyderabad) so far.
Manjrekar had earlier said on the same show that Maxwell's performance could be crucial to RCB making into the playoffs stage. ".. this time around, they have Maxwell, who was a good pick and if he has a good season then RCB can certainly make the playoffs," Manjrekar had said.
