IPL 2020: 5 Star players who might not feature in the playing XI in the first week

The much-awaited 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is ready to start from Saturday, September 19. The biggest rivalries in the history of IPL, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) are going to fight to start the tournament on a winning note at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

As the tournament is moved to the UAE, all the teams might be changing their gameplans according to the conditions and nature of pitches, which are generally spin-friendly. The team managements will be trying their best to opt for the apt XI from their squads and hence, we may find some star players warming the bench in the dugout.

Almost each and every team, participating in this season, did a decent job in the auction to strengthen their backups. Many a times we see those players in action only if the main players are unavailable to selection due to injury or any other reason.

So, let’s look at 5 star players who are likely to be benched in the first week of IPL 2020: –

1. Chris Lynn (MI)

The Australian was bought by Mumbai Indians at his base price of INR 2 crores in the auction. Although he scored 405 runs at an average of 31.15 and with a strike rate of 139.65 including 4 half centuries in 2019, he was released by his former team KKR as he was costing a large amount of INR 9.5 crores. 

The four-time champions bought the dashing opener as a backup, adding to their well-set opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. There is no way that the Mumbai-based franchise will opt Lynn over Quinton as the Protea wicket keeper scored 529 runs with a strike rate of 135 in the last season and also gives the left-hand right-hand batting option to Mumbai at the top.

Lynn, who is coming from a terrible CPL, scorong just 138 runs in his 9 innings with a poor strike-rate rate of 107.8 is expected to warm the bench throughout this IPL unless an injury concern or a new combination tried by the Mumbai-based franchise. In his 41 games in the IPL, Lynn scored 1280 runs at a strike rate of 140.65 with 10 half centuries to his name.