IPL 2020: Best Benched XI of the tournament

Just like every season, IPL 2020 happened to be an entertaining one for the fans and as usual, many youngsters came into the public limelight after some stunning performances for their respective franchises. From Devdutt Padikkal to T. Natarajan many players performed fairly and cemented their position for the next season. But this edition of the cash-rich league was not the same for all the players as some couldn’t manage to make into the XI of their respective teams. From vastly experienced players like Chris Lynn to some upcoming young talents like Virat Singh many players warmed the bench for the whole season. Now let us try to pick the best eleven from the players who were benched by their respective franchises in this season. Even for this selection, we have used the four foreigner rule and hence some star foreign players might have missed out from the list. In the article, let’s take a look at the benched XI of IPL 2020: 1. Chris Lynn (MI) Chris Lynn. (Photo: IANS) The Australian dashing opening batsman was bought by Mumbai Indians for 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, 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 swashbuckling opener as a backup option to their well-set opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. Although Rohit was injured after the ninth game, due to the four foreigner rule, Lynn was left out from the playing XI. Lynn, who came from a terrible CPL, where he scored just 138 runs in his 9 innings with a really bad rate of 107.8, warmed the bench throughout this season. 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. 2. Parthiv Patel (RCB) Parthiv Patel. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Gujarat cricketer was the main wicket-keeper for the Bangalore-based franchise last year and played all the 14 matches the last season in 2019. He scored 373 runs at a rate of 140 and used to provide a good start to the team opening the batting with Virat Kohli. But the southpaw was left out of the XI for the whole season in 2020 as AB de Villiers took the wicket-keeping duties making way for a specialist Indian batsman to feature in the playing XI. Even Josh Philippe donned the wicket keeping gloves for the first two games before getting dropped from the eleven. Patel, who was benched for the whole tournament, has a lot of experience under his belt. In 139 matches he played in IPL, he scored 2848 runs at an average of 22.6 and at a strike rate of 120.78. He has 13 half-centuries to his name. 3. Manan Vohra (RR) Manan Vohra. (Photo Source: Twitter) Manan Vohra came into the public limelight after his exploits in the Under-19 World Cup 2012. Due to his impressive performance in the World Cup, he was bought in by the Kings Xi Punjab ahead of 2013 season but he hasn’t managed the kind of consistency he would have liked to show. His best season came back in 2014, when he played a crucial role with the bat along with Glenn Maxwell to take his team into finals. Coming to this IPL, Vohra warmed the bench for the whole season and couldn’t pave his way into the XI. When the Royals’ batting order failed terribly in the middle of the season, experts thought that Manan will be given a chance at the top but the franchise stuck to the same combination and promoted Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes to the top and the duo managed to score some important runs thereafter. 4. Virat Singh (SRH) Virat Singh of Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Jharkhand’s left-handed 22-year-old batsman Virat Singh was bought in by the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise for INR 1.9 crores in the auction ahead of the IPL 2020. Virat made his domestic debut for Jharkhand in the 2014-15 season and is known to swing his bat like Suresh Raina. His performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T29 trophy prior to the auction fetched him the fat pay-check. In 10 matches, Virat scored 343 runs including three fifties, at an average of 57.16. He is also a big six-hitter and had hit 16 sixes in the tournament. With Priyam Garg and Abdul Samad proving their worth for the franchise in the season along with Punjab all-rounder Abhishek Sharma, Virat Singh didn’t find a place in the playing XI of the SRH but is expected to be retained for the next season as their mentor VVS Laxman is impressed with the youngster’s performance. 5. Anmolpreet Singh (MI) Anmolpreet Singh of India. (Photo by Pal Pillai/Getty Images for Nissan) Anmolpreet Singh came into the public limelight after an impressive performance in the 2016 U-19 World Cup. He scored a vital 72 in the semis against Sri Lanka and orchestrated a 97-run victory. He made his first-class debut against Himachal Pradesh in 2017-18 and notched up a fifty in his maiden outing. There was little to note in an otherwise tame season for Punjab, but in Anmolpreet, they had found a gem. Anmol didn’t manage to make into the playing XI in the star-studded Mumbai Indians squad. When their skipper Rohit Sharma was injured the franchise included Saurabh Tiwary ahead of him and the wait for the youngster to get a game in IPL continues. 6. Pawan Negi (RCB) Pawan Negi of Royal Challengers Bangalore plays a shot. (Photo: IANS) The Delhi all-rounder made his IPL debut playing for then Delhi Daredevils team against the now defunct Pune Warriors India team back in 2012. Later he was bought by the Chennai based franchise and under the leadership of MS Dhoni, Negi had a impressive tournament in 2015 and in the next auction he was bought again by Delhi for INR 8.5 crores. Negi didn’t perform up to the mark and was released by the franchise ahead of the next season. He was then bought by RCB for IPL 2017 for INR 1 crore and he became the highest wicket-taker for the Challengers with 16 wickets in 12 games. He still continues to be a part of the RCB squad. Coming to this IPL, experts thought that he will be included in the XI for some games as the IPL happened in the UAE. But the inclusion of Adam Zampa resulted in Pawan Negi being benched for the whole season. 7. Anukul Roy (MI) Anukul Roy of India U19. (Photo Source: Twitter) Yet another Mumbai Indians player made into this list as the franchise used only 15 members of their squad in all the 16 matches they played in this season. Anukul Roy is a left-handed batting all-rounder from Jharkhand and was bought by the Mumbai Indians for INR 20 lakhs ahead of 2018 IPL auction. He made his debut in IPL for the Mumbai Indians against the Chennai Super Kings back in 2019 and bowled 2 overs picking up a wicket at an economy of 5.5. Though he performed well enough, Roy was dropped from the eleven as he offered the team same qualities as of Krunal Pandya. In IPL 2020, Anukul was seen on the field as a substitute fielder and he also took a stunning catch in the tournament. Anukul, who warmed the bench for the whole season will be hoping to get a chance to prove his worth to his franchise. 8. Sherfane Rutherford (MI) Sherfane Rutherford. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) The 22-year-old West Indian batting all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford was traded into the squad by Mumbai Indians from Delhi Capitals ahead of this season but was benched for the entire tournament by the star-filled franchise. Sherfane Rutherford went into Global T-20 League as an unknown player but he came out of that tournament with the reputation of being a ferocious hitter. Later he earned a CPL contract and then an IPL contract with the Capitals. In 7 matches he played in the IPL, Rutherford scored 73 runs at a strike rate of 135.19 and an average of 14.6 with the help of 7 sixes. He also took one wicket at an economy of 8.63 in the cash-rich league. 9. Sandeep Lamichhane (DC) Sandeep Lamichhane. (Photo Source: Twitter) The 20-year-old leg spinner became the first player from Nepal to be a part of the Indian Premier League when he was bought by the Delhi franchise ahead of the 2018 edition of the league. Sandeep has been part of the Delhi Capitals for three successive seasons from 2018 to 2020 and played 9 IPL matches and picked up 13 wickets at an economy of 8.34 and an average of 22.46 with the best performance of 3/36. When the IPL was shifted to the UAE, cricket experts thought that he would play a crucial role in the team. However, due to the excellence of Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel, Sandeep was benched for the entire season by the Capitals. 10. Ishan Porel (KXIP) Ishan Porel. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer-ICC/ICC via Getty Images) The Bengal right-arm-medium pacer came into the limelight after a remarkable spell against Bangladesh in the 2018 U-19 World Cup quarterfinals where he bowled 5 overs, conceding only 8 runs. Porel made his List A debut for Bengal in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy and went on to make his first-class debut for the state side in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy. Later he was selected for the U-19 World Cup and was bought in by the KXIP in the IPL auction. Though the Punjab based franchise made many changes to their XI to find a perfect winning combination in the season, Porel didn’t manage to impress the team management to make them include him in the playing XI. 11. Billy Stanlake (SRH) Billy Stanlake. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Australian right-arm-fast bowler has been an integral part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad from 2017 season but managed to play only 6 games for the franchise in 4 years. In 6 matches he played, he picked up 7 wickets at a rate of 8.33. With the likes of David Warner, Kane Williamson, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Jonny Bairstow in the squad and with the four foreigner rule in place, Billy has warmed the bench for the most of his IPL career. When the franchise’s leading pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the IPL with a finger injury, Stanlake was expected to get a chance in the playing XI but Jason Holder who came as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Marsh shared the new ball with Sandeep Sharma. ~Written by Uday Gurugubelli

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IPL 2020: Best Benched XI of the tournament

Some experienced cricketers in the list.

7. Anukul Roy (MI)

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