5 unsold batsmen who can get a chance in IPL 2020 as replacements

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 player auctions successfully took place in the city of joy, Kolkata on December 19, 2019. The auction was a mini one before next year’s mega auction. But still, some surprise names went for a lot of money and then some didn’t even get a single bid despite being labelled as international stars.

T20 cricket is lauded to be a batsman dominated format where the hard hitters smash the helpless bowlers all around the park on flat wickets around the globe. There were some world-class and proven batsmen who went unsold in the player auctions which raised a lot of eyebrows among the IPL fans.

Here, we will take a look at five batsmen who can single-handedly turn the tide of the game in their teams’ favour on the back of their intelligent batting and will be the perfect replacements for any of the franchises in the IPL 2020 if any of their star batsmen gets injured.

1. Martin Guptill

One of the best-limited overs opener in the modern era, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill was one of the few big names which went unsold in this player auctions. He set his base price at 1 crore INR but found no buyers. It came as a surprise for everyone who was following the auction process as Guptill is one of the most experienced openers out there in international cricket.

Though in the first place, it was not New Zealand opener’s mistake to get released from the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squad ahead of the auctions. SRH has arguably the best opening combination from the current crop of IPL openers having Australian opener David Warner and English opening batsman Jonny Bairstow at their disposal.

Warner and Bairstow were so consistent last year that Guptill could only get 3 matches in which he scored just 81 runs. The only positive which came out of those 3 matches for him was his destructive batting in the power plays despite being under pressure by the team management. That’s why if any of the franchise’s star overseas opener gets injured, then Guptill will be the perfect replacement for him.