New Delhi. This tall and slim Caribbean player was highly rated as a fast bowler. In the 2016 U-19 World Cup, he terrified the batsmen with his express pace and by taking wickets continuously, he contributed significantly in making West Indies the champion. Alzarri Joseph, considered the future of Caribbean cricket, was also included in the Indian Premier League i.e. IPL. After playing for Mumbai Indians in the 2019 season, it was like winning a lottery. He received an amount of Rs 75 lakh for playing for MI. He got to play only three matches with this franchise in which he took 6 wickets. The interesting thing is that Alzarri had taken these six wickets in a single match. After this performance, along with the asking price of Alzari, the price also increased to crores.
Gujarat Titans (GT) bought him for a huge amount of Rs 2.40 crore in the 2022 season. It would be Alzarri’s misfortune that as his price increased, his performance graph went down. Even in IPL 2024 (IPL 2014), till now he has proved to be a ‘liability’ rather than an ‘asset’ for his new team RCB.
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Frontline Bowler GT did not live up to expectations
Gujarat Titans had selected him as a frontline bowler for the 2022 season but Alzarri could neither take many wickets nor put a break on the flow of runs. His performance in IPL 2022 was disappointing and he could take only 7 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 37.71 and economy of 8.80. Naturally, this performance was not as expected for a bowler worth crores. Despite this, GT management kept faith in Alzarri and retained him for the 2023 season. However, even in the 2023 season, Alzarri could not live up to the trust of the franchise. In seven matches, he was able to take only 7 wickets at a poor average of 32.14 and his economy increased to 9.38 i.e. he ‘lost’ 9.38 runs per over. GT released him after very poor performance in two consecutive seasons.
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It was sold for Rs 11.50 crores upon release, but..
RCB’s decision to buy Alzarri Joseph for Rs 11.50 crore has proved wrong so far.
Being released by Gujarat Titans was beneficial for Alzari. Royal Challengers Bangalore made a big bet on this fast bowler. Everyone was surprised when RCB bought 27-year-old Alzarri for a huge amount of Rs 11.50 crore in the auction. No one could agree to spend an amount of Rs 11 crore on a player whose performance graph is continuously falling. The interesting thing is that Alzari’s base prize was only one crore rupees and he was successful in getting more than 11 times the amount. RCB management’s decision on Alzarri is still not correct.
In the current season, playing three matches for RCB, he has been able to take only one wicket for 115 runs and is currently the worst bowler of his team in both average (115) and economy (11.89). Due to this failure of Alzarri, RCB kept him out of the team in Tuesday’s match against Lucknow Supergiants and gave a chance to Reece Topley. RCB has faced defeat in three out of its four matches and the biggest disappointment has come from Joseph, the team’s most expensive player bought this season. It can be expected that luck will smile on Alzarri and RCB in the upcoming matches.
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Overall record in IPL also bad
In four seasons of IPL, Alzarri Joseph has so far taken 21 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 32.90 and his economy is 9.55. To improve his performance, he will have to overcome the weakness of ‘leaking’ runs along with taking wickets. For this, along with throwing the fast ball, he will also have to master slower and cutters.
The only positive aspect of Alzarri’s performance so far is that the best bowling performance of IPL (6/12) is in his name. In 2019, while playing for Mumbai Indians, he took 6 wickets for 12 runs in 3.4 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad and took the record of Sohail Tanvir (6/14) of Rajasthan Royals in the 2008 IPL season.
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Tags: Alzarri Joseph, Cricket, Gujarat Titans, Indian premier league, IPL, IPL 2024, rcb
FIRST PUBLISHED: April 4, 2024, 14:02 IST