Five great cricketers who went through worst patches of form

Cricket which often entertains fans with high-quality athleticism also breaks hearts on some occasions. Not just fans, but even the greatest of cricketers are not immune to this side of the sport.

The greatest of cricket players have on many occasions, going through a bad patch of form that almost ended their career. In this article, we will look at some of the worst patches of form great cricketers have gone through.

Ricky Ponting 2000/01

Ricky Ponting (image source: Twitter)

Rickey Pointing is arguably Australia’s best players ever. He was a superstar quite early in his cricketing career. In the 2000/01 season, however, he went through a bad patch of form that stopped his rise to the top. After making 92 against West Indies at Adelaide, the right-hand batter could not produce a good knock in the next months. He managed just one fifty in the next 10 innings.

Worse came later in the 2001 India tour when Ponting could only manage a best of 11 in five innings, of which three were ducks. It was in the Ashes of 2001 that the batter regained his touch and made 144 ending a poor run of form that extended one year.

His ODI form was also bad having made 510 runs in 14 matches with just one century in the whole year.

AB de Villiers 2006/2007

AB de Villiers (image source: Twitter)

Arguably one of the greatest batters of all time, AB de Villiers has a reputation for making a crazy number of runs in the Indian T20 League. Known for hitting sixes all around the field, AB hardly had any off-season, or did he?

AB was in sensational form in the year 2005, having made 1008 runs a calendar year with an average of 53.5. Next year however his ODI form dropped massively as he could only manage 570 runs with an average of 27. His bad form continued a year later in 2007 when he made even lower 387 runs with a poor average of 27.6.

His worst patch in Test also came in 2006 when in 12 innings the South African batter could only produce 150 runs at an average of 13.63 with no centuries or half centuries.

MS Dhoni 2018/19

MS Dhoni (Image source: Twitter)

MS Dhoni has been India’s game changer, both in terms of wicket-keeping batting and as captain. His rise to the top has been no short of a Bollywood movie.

In 2018 however, it all came crashing down for the then-Indian captain as he had the worst year as a cricketer. In 20 ODI matches, the wicketkeeper batter was able to produce a paltry 275 runs at a shocking average of 25. This was the year when he could not make a single century or a half-century. This was also the beginning of the end for Dhoni and he retired a year later.

Sachin Tendulkar 2005/06

Sachin Tendulkar (Image source: Twitter)

Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the best player of all time. Regarded as the God of cricket, Sachin enjoys a divine status among Indian cricket fans. He too however went through a bad patch of form in his cricketing career.

It was the year 2005, Tendulkar was going through a tennis elbow problem when his form dropped massively. From playing at an average of 45 just a year prior, it dropped to 24. In 16 matches, he produced just 412 runs in 2005, allowing the journalists to come up with the famous term “Endulkar”. His worst patch of form was in 2005 when in 13 innings the great batter could only produce 335 runs at an average of 27.91 runs. His form improved a little in 2006 when he made 628 runs in 16 matches. He made a great comeback in 2007 and made 1425 runs in a calendar year.

Virat Kohli 2019-continued

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

Virat Kohli’s has been having a torrid time with the bat for quite a while now. His last century came in November 2019 against Bangladesh. Since then he hasn’t produced a single century in either Tests, ODIs or T20 games. Not even in the Indian T20 League. Although he could not score a century he was still averaging 44 in ODIs since 2019.

In 2022 however, his average has dropped to 22.57. A batter who scored centuries for fun continues to search for his 71st after more than two years.

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