Not on board the gravy train

While the IPL chugs through its everlasting schedule, splashing its gravy all over the Indian subcontinent, we dug up a list of players who missed its virtues and vices for various reasons - injury, apathy, and for want of a USP - despite having impressive Twenty20 numbers. We also included players who are part of this season's squads but haven't played a game yet, and ordered the tables according to stats between this IPL and the previous one.

Kevin Pietersen should have been playing for Deccan Chargers. They had bought him for $650,000 at the player auction in January. During England's World Cup campaign, though, Pietersen's hernia got so bad he needed to have an operation, which ruled him out of the rest of that tournament and the IPL as well. Losing Pietersen was a huge blow for Deccan, for he had been in terrific form. Between the 2010 and 2011 seasons of the IPL, Pietersen scored 274 runs in eight Twenty20 international innings, averaging 46 and striking at 142. He was the Player of the Tournament during the 2010 World Twenty20 and a real bargain for Deccan.

David Miller had a promising start to his South Africa career. A hard-hitting middle-order batsman, Miller made his debut in the Caribbean in May 2010, and averages 41 and strikes at 134 after six Twenty20 international innings. He was one of numerous unsold players at the IPL auction, though, when obscure names like Adam Lyth and Nathan Rimmington attracted bids. Another South African batsman Colin Ingram, a contemporary of Miller, did get picked up but is yet to play for Delhi Daredevils. Rileee Rossouw and Jonathan Vandiar are in a similar predicament at Royal Challengers Bangalore. Miller was later signed by Kings XI Punjab as a replacement for Dimitri Mascarenhas, but hasn't played yet.

Best recent Twenty20 International batting averages by players not in IPL 2011/not yet played in IPL 2011 (qualification: 5 innings, since IPL 2010)

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
T Taibu	6	5	3	93	45*	46.50	117.72	0	0
KP Pietersen	8	8	2	274	73*	45.66	141.96	0	2
DA Miller	6	6	3	123	36*	41.00	133.69	0	0
Salman Butt	8	8	1	267	73	38.14	125.94	0	2
Umar Akmal	16	15	2	412	64	31.69	128.34	0	3
BRM Taylor	5	5	1	112	59	28.00	115.46	0	1
C Kieswetter	9	9	0	244	63	27.11	117.87	0	1
Kamran Akmal	10	10	0	253	73	25.30	122.22	0	2
AD Mathews	9	7	1	146	58	24.33	109.77	0	1
CA Ingram	5	5	1	94	46*	23.50	123.68	0	0
S Chanderpaul	6	6	1	116	29	23.20	98.30	0	0
TT Bresnan	11	6	3	67	23*	22.33	126.41	0	0
MJ Guptill	8	8	1	153	54	21.85	114.17	0	1
MJ Lumb	7	7	0	137	33	19.57	141.23	0	0
Misbah-ul-Haq	9	9	2	128	41	18.28	90.78	0	0
H Masakadza	6	6	0	109	72	18.16	101.86	0	1
DJ Bravo	7	6	0	108	40	18.00	100.00	0	0
SPD Smith	11	9	3	108	34	18.00	125.58	0	0
LJ Wright	11	8	2	108	45*	18.00	117.39	0	0
CK Kapugedera	9	7	1	102	37*	17.00	114.60	0	0

There's a Daniel (Vettori) and a (Ryan) Harris in the IPL but no Daniel Harris, who was one of the names that didn't even cause a stir in the auction room. After the auction, however, Harris caused a stir in Australia's Big Bash, ending it as the Player of the Series. A qualified doctor, Harris scored 443 runs for South Australia in his previous 12 Twenty20 innings, at a strike-rate of 134 and average of 44. Given the number of Australian coaches in the IPL, a stint in the future isn't out of the question.

The highest strike-rate in the table below belongs to little-known Colin Munro. He wasn't even in the countless-player IPL auction. Munro made his domestic Twenty20 debut for Auckland a few weeks before the deadline for registering for the auction and made a duck. Since then he scored 224 runs in seven innings at a strike-rate of 160 as Auckland won the HRV Cup.

Best recent Twenty20 batting averages by players not in IPL 2011/not yet played in IPL 2011 (qualification: 8 innings since IPL 2010)

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
JM How	9	9	2	362	96	51.71	148.97	0	3
SJ Walters	12	11	7	184	53*	46.00	113.58	0	1
CJ Ferguson	10	9	3	273	71	45.50	141.45	0	2
OA Shah	24	23	7	714	80	44.62	122.89	0	3
DJ Harris	12	12	2	443	70	44.30	134.24	0	4
DM Bravo	10	9	2	308	70	44.00	132.18	0	2
Shahzaib Hasan	12	12	2	433	101*	43.30	145.79	1	3
A McGrath	12	10	4	251	73*	41.83	110.57	0	1
KP Pietersen	9	9	2	289	73*	41.28	142.36	0	2
MN Samuels	12	12	4	317	80*	39.62	106.73	0	2
LMP Simmons	12	12	2	393	83	39.30	113.58	0	4
AN Cook	11	11	1	388	73	38.80	132.42	0	3
Salman Butt	9	9	1	308	73	38.50	125.71	0	2
AN Petersen	11	11	2	340	84*	37.77	137.65	0	4
C Munro	10	8	2	224	66*	37.33	160.00	0	1
WJ Durston	16	15	3	445	111	37.08	129.36	1	2
JWA Taylor	14	14	3	407	62*	37.00	136.12	0	4
RE Levi	8	8	1	258	68	36.85	145.76	0	3
MR Ramprakash	11	11	2	331	63*	36.77	116.54	0	3
GJ Bailey	8	8	2	220	51	36.66	143.79	0	1

England's players had few bidders during the auction because they had heavy international and county schedules and high base prices. Only Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan, Paul Collingwood, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Owais Shah and Michael Lumb had bids. One player who'd have been a good buy, though, was Tim Bresnan, considering the premium on all-round skills. Between the previous IPL and this one, Bresnan had a strike-rate of 126.41 in six innings and took nine wickets in 11 T20Is with an economy-rate of 6.57.

The table below is littered with Pakistani bowlers for they have been most successful in the Twenty20 format. The top wicket-takers in the shortest game are Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal. However, the IPL's continued ignoring of Pakistani talent for reasons beyond cricket has deprived the tournament of considerable entertainment.

Mitchell Johnson, on the other hand, doesn't want to play in the IPL. If he did, he'd be snapped up in a trice. He's taken 15 wickets in 10 matches at an economy-rate of 7.15 between the third and the fourth IPL and, in addition to his bowling skills, he hits the ball hard as well.

Best recent Twenty20 International economy-rates by players not in IPL 2011/not yet played in IPL 2011 (qualification: 125 balls since IPL 2010)

Player	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ	4	5
DJG Sammy	8	136	125	9	3/8	13.88	5.51	0	0
MH Yardy	11	216	214	9	2/19	23.77	5.94	0	0
BAW Mendis	7	156	165	8	3/24	20.62	6.34	0	0
GP Swann	11	228	244	16	3/24	15.25	6.42	0	0
TT Bresnan	11	220	241	9	3/10	26.77	6.57	0	0
SCJ Broad	9	173	190	10	2/18	19.00	6.58	0	0
Mohammad Amir	8	186	206	14	3/23	14.71	6.64	0	0
Shahid Afridi	16	347	401	16	4/14	25.06	6.93	1	0
MG Johnson	10	230	273	15	3/15	18.20	7.12	0	0
Saeed Ajmal	16	325	389	23	4/26	16.91	7.18	1	0
A Nehra	6	144	178	12	3/19	14.83	7.41	0	0
RJ Sidebottom	9	171	214	12	3/23	17.83	7.50	0	0
Mohammad Hafeez	13	174	219	5	1/10	43.80	7.55	0	0
Abdul Razzaq	15	138	178	7	3/13	25.42	7.73	0	0
SPD Smith	11	177	230	13	3/20	17.69	7.79	0	0
KD Mills	7	151	207	9	3/37	23.00	8.22	0	0
Shoaib Akhtar	8	180	249	11	3/38	22.63	8.30	0	0
Umar Gul	8	137	201	4	2/13	50.25	8.80	0	0

You'd think an under-the-radar bowler who has a domestic Twenty20 record of 26 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 9.57 and economy of 5.61 would be a clever buy at the IPL auction. Krishmar Santokie, a 26-year-old fast bowler from Jamaica, wasn't in it though. He made a name for himself in the Caribbean T20 2010 and not much is known about him. The West Indians are under-represented at the IPL but if Santokie keeps this up, he will turn the head of a scout or two.

Best recent Twenty20 economy-rates by players not in IPL 2011/not yet played in IPL 2011 (qualification: 200 balls since IPL 2010)

Player	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ	4	5
Wahab Riaz	12	208	185	14	3/14	13.21	5.33	0	0
K Santokie	11	224	218	21	5/24	10.38	5.83	0	1
RDB Croft	16	347	343	22	3/19	15.59	5.93	0	0
NO Miller	17	347	344	11	2/4	31.27	5.94	0	0
DE Bernard	13	245	244	13	3/13	18.76	5.97	0	0
RW Price	10	228	229	10	2/24	22.90	6.02	0	0
MH Yardy	29	612	628	29	2/14	21.65	6.15	0	0
WPUJC Vaas	17	345	364	23	3/16	15.82	6.33	0	0
Mohammad Amir	9	204	216	14	3/23	15.42	6.35	0	0
GP Swann	12	252	268	18	3/24	14.88	6.38	0	0
SJ Benn	14	270	290	10	2/22	29.00	6.44	0	0
TT Bresnan	12	244	262	10	3/10	26.20	6.44	0	0
D Bishoo	14	306	329	26	4/17	12.65	6.45	1	0
DR Briggs	25	528	570	36	3/5	15.83	6.47	0	0
BAW Mendis	11	240	259	13	3/14	19.92	6.47	0	0
JD Middlebrook	18	330	356	13	2/12	27.38	6.47	0	0
NM Carter	23	444	480	23	3/28	20.86	6.48	0	0
SR Patel	18	348	377	17	3/26	22.17	6.50	0	0
JP Kreusch	14	204	222	10	3/19	22.20	6.52	0	0
MJ Mason	14	317	345	18	3/12	19.16	6.52	0	0