IPL 2020 Auction: 3 top South African superstars who failed to light up the IPL

Ever since its inception in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been one of cricket's most celebrated competitions. The league truly made cricket go mainstream on the world stage and its glamour and flashiness made it a treat to watch for the viewers. While legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag could adapt very well to the shorter, more explosive format of the IPL, some South African superstars could not. Here are three Proteas superstars who could not set the IPL on fire.

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Graeme Smith

Legendary Proteas captain Graeme Smith was one of the biggest names to take part in the IPL when it began in 2008. Over his IPL career, he played for the Rajasthan Royals from 2008-2010 and the erstwhile Pune Warriors India (PWI) in 20111. While Smith's form could not exactly be termed 'poor', he was not all that good either. He played his last IPL game in 2011 for PWI. In his 29 IPL matches, Smith scored 739 runs, only registering 4 fifty-plus scores and hitting 9 sixes.

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Herschelle Gibbs

Another very big name in world cricket, Herschelle Gibbs was famous for his unrelenting hard-hitting approach towards batting at the top of the Proteas batting order. In 2008, he was picked by the Deccan Chargers and even made a fifty in the 2009 finals after which the Chargers ended up lifting the trophy. But except for a few innings, Gibbs' IPL career was mostly disappointing. In 36 matches, he only made 886 runs with his highest score being a mere 69*.

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Davy Jacobs

Over the years, Davy Jacobs became a domestic cricket superstar in South Africa. Jacobs' fascinating performances in the 2010 Champions League T20 got him the attention of the Mumbai Indians, who picked him up in the 2011 Auction. He only played two seasons for the Mumbai Indians in which he got to play 7 matches in total. Jacobs could not recreate his magic and only scored 92 runs with a high score of 32.

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