IPL 2026 Top Failures: Which big players got a place in the flop XI of IPL 2026 and what was the reason for their poor performance? Why was Rishabh Pant chosen as captain of the flop XI even though he scored 300+ runs? Why were star players like Jasprit Bumrah, Nicholas Pooran and Hardik Pandya struggling this season?
IPL 2026 Worst Playing XI (Ahmedabad): Another season of IPL 2026 is over. In the final, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Gujarat Titans and won the trophy. Like every season, this time too some superstar players came with high expectations, but their performance on the field was very poor. If a ‘Flop XI’ team is formed by including such players, then let us see who will get a place in it.
Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has been chosen as the opener of this flop team, who was seen playing under the pressure of captaincy. The other opener with him is Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane. Rituraj scored only 337 runs in 14 innings this season at an average of 28.08. At the same time, Rahane completely disappointed by scoring only 335 runs in 14 innings.
At number three is Lucknow Super Giants’ explosive batsman Nicholas Puran. Puran could score only 234 runs in 14 innings. His strike rate also fell to 127.86. Rishabh Pant has been made the captain of this flop XI team, whose team Lucknow stood last this season. Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Cameron Green and Axar Patel are the other players in the middle order.
Flop team captain Rishabh Pant!
Rishabh Pant scored only 312 runs in 13 innings this season. Under his captaincy, Lucknow team could win only 4 out of 14 matches. Mumbai Indians’ trusted players Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya completely failed in batting this time. Suryakumar scored 270 runs in 13 innings, whereas Hardik Pandya could score only 206 runs in 10 innings. Even in bowling, Pandya got only 4 wickets.
Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who joined the Kolkata team at a huge price of Rs 25.20 crore in the IPL 2026 auction, is the main all-rounder of this team. He scored 322 runs in batting, but in bowling he gave away runs at an economy of more than 10 and could take only 7 wickets. Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel is the spin all-rounder of this team. Akshar took 11 wickets in 13 innings, while scoring only 173 runs in 11 innings in batting.
Bad record in the name of Jasprit Bumrah!
Mumbai Indians’ bowling trump card Jasprit Bumrah is also in this flop team. Bumrah took only 4 wickets in 13 matches and his poor bowling average of 102.50 was shocking to everyone. Another world class fast bowler from Mumbai, Trent Boult was also seen struggling to take wickets in the powerplay. He took only 2 wickets in 5 matches. Lucknow team’s leg spinner Digvesh Rathi, who took 5 wickets in 10 matches, is also included in this team.
Impact Player Alternatives
Superstar player Rohit Sharma (283 runs), RCB wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma (116 runs), South African player Dewald Brevis (151 runs), fast bowler Harshal Patel who did not take a single wicket and spinner Kuldeep Yadav (10 wickets) are included in this flop list as impact players.