Ngidi, De Villiers fly South African flag at IPL 2018

If South Africans had a so-so time during the 2017 Indian Premier League, then they performed even worse collectively during this year's competition.

Yes, on paper the 11 South Africans signed up for the 2018 Indian Premier League season would make a formidable team, but a look at the lists of best batsmen and bowlers -- and the final positions of the teams they featured in --- reveal that only two players can hold their heads up high.

Here is a round-up of how the South African XI performed in this season's IPL...

Faf du Plessis, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir (Chennai Super Kings)
Proteas captain Faf du Plessis saw his IPL team return to action after a two-year suspension, but had only a minor role to play in their progress to the playoffs, featuring in only four matches. However, he then delivered a match-winning 67* (almost half of his tournament total runs) in the qualifier to seal their place in the final, which they won by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets on Sunday.

Winners medal notwithstanding, Imran Tahir would have hoped to contribute more during his six matches (all in the group stage), but Lungi Ngidi's efforts in his seven matches has seen him emerge as one of the breakout stars of 2018.

The 22-year-old fast-bowler started the tournament on the lowest of notes when his father passed away during the opening week. He would have been excused if he decided to remain in South Africa to support his family, but instead, on his return, Ngidi excelled -- no doubt helped to channel his feelings by bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji and South African consultant Eric Simons, with noted fitness trainer Greg King also keeping an eye on his exertions.

Ngidi finished among the top three bowlers for best averages (3rd) and economy rate (2nd), as well as 9th for strike-rate (of those who played four or more matches), which for Proteas coach Ottis Gibson will rank as important metrics in how valuable this IPL has been for his developing paceman

Du Plessis' stats: 6 matches, 162 runs, 32.40 average, 125.58 strike-rate
Ngidi's stats: 7 matches, 11 wickets, 14.18 average, 6.00 economy rate
Tahir's stats: 6 matches, 6 wickets, 31.33 average, 9.09 economy rate

Cameron Delport (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Jacques Kallis may be the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, but he had only one fellow South African, Cameron Delport, in his squad to pick from. As it turned out, the big-hitting left-hander -- who at R545 000 was sold for the least amount of the South Africans in IPL draft -- sat in the dugout throughout the tournament as Chris Lynn (Australia) and Sunil Narine (West Indies) shone at the top of the order.

Heinrich Klaasen (Rajasthan Royals)
Rajasthan Royals also had a South African head coach in Paddy Upton lead them to the playoffs, thanks to a three-match winning streak to close the league phase, but he also only had one South African available. Than man was fringe Proteas wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen, who played only four matches during the tournament; more than he might have expected after being recruited as a late replacement for erstwhile Australia captain Steve Smith.

The 26-year-old's most notable contribution to the Royals progression to the playoffs -- where they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eliminator -- was claiming an impressive three stumpings (including AB de Villiers) and a catch in the win which knocked the Royal Challengers Bangalore out of contention.

Klaasen's stats: 4 matches, 57 runs, 19.00 average, 121.27 strike-rate | 3 catches, 4 stumpings

JP Duminy (Mumbai Indians)
After winning the 2017 tournament, the Mumbai Indians would have been confident of at least reaching the playoffs again this year. However, it wasn't to be for JP Duminy and co. -- not least because they lost their opening three matches.

As a senior player, Duminy would have been expected to have a big influence in the Indians' fate in 2018, but started and finished the season out of the team. During his six-match spell the Indians won four times to get themselves back into playoffs contention, but the 34-year-old made little impact. In fact, so peripheral was he that in both of his final two matches he came to the crease at number eight as the non-facing batsman for the final ball of the innings.

Duminy's stats: 6 matches, 36 runs, 36.00 average, 90.00 strike-rate | 0 wickets, 12.00 economy rate | 2 catches

AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
AB de Villiers was South Africa's outstanding performer during this year's tournament, but he will be disappointed not to have helped the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a playoffs place. His statistics show that, individually, he couldn't have done much more as he was in the top 10 for most runs, highest average, highest strike-rate and most sixes -- and arguably took the best catch of the 2018 edition.

However De Villiers, Virat Kohli, Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock didn't get going enough together to help RCB's cause, and trying to fit them all in arguably disturbed the team's balance.

In fact, after sticking with the underperforming De Kock for the first eight matches of the tournament, coaches Daniel Vettori (head) and Gary Kirsten (batting) then replaced him with Parthiv Patel for the final six of the league phase, which allowed them more flexibility with their foreign bowling options.

De Villiers' stats: 12 matches, 480 runs, 53.33 average, 174.54 strike-rate | 6 catches
De Kock's stats: 8 matches, 201 runs, 25.12 average, 124.07 strike-rate | 7 catches, 3 stumpings