Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

4 Big-Name Players who might Warm the Bench in IPL 2020 | 4 proven T20 players who might warm the bench for most of the IPL 2020 season

The Indian Premier League is filled with lots of talent in all teams, which makes for extremely competitive and entertaining cricket being played over the course of the next two months.

An equal purse means that all eight teams have a fair chance of constructing the best squad. The tournament has a close race between the teams for the playoffs spots every year. Along with this, there is also fierce competition between the players of each team to get into the playing XI.

With the amount of talent at each franchise’s disposal, some of the star players are bound to be benched by the team management. Over the years, a lot of big Indian and international stars have been benched by the team management to field the better combination.

Here is a look at the big names who might miss out on the playing XI in the majority of their team’s matches in the upcoming IPL.

1. Chris Lynn

The first name in the list is the big-hitting opener, Chris Lynn. Lynn will ply his trade for the Mumbai Indians in the upcoming season as he was snapped for base price by the defending champions. Lynn was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2019 and scored over 400 runs at a strike rate of 139 and an average of 31. He was released by the franchise as he was costing a significant amount of 9.6 crores from their purse.

But at MI, the Australian will most likely be a backup option considering the batting line-up of the defending champions. Quinton De Kock and Rohit Sharma is a set combination at the top of the order followed by Suryakumar Yadav. De Kock scored 529 runs at a SR of 135 in 2019, so it is unlikely that he will be dropped even though they have the option of Kishan keeping. Also, the Protea gives the RHB-LHB batting option for MI which is they will be unlikely to tamper with.

2. Kane Williamson

After scoring 735 runs at a strike rate of 142 and average of 45 in the 2018 IPL season, Williamson scored just 156 runs in the following season. He was the captain of the side in both the seasons, but having been released from leadership duties for the upcoming season it is unlikely that the Kiwi will start for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

They already boast of the likes of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow in the opening slot and it is unlikely that they tamper with the opening pair. As for the middle order, SRh has plenty of Indian options in Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Saha and Abdul Samad and playing them will give SRH an opportunity to play two overseas all-rounders between Rashid Khan, Fabian Allen and Mohammad Nabi.

3. Dale Steyn

An RCB playing XI always makes the news, and often for the wrong reasons, especially in the recent past. One legend who might not be a part of the Royal Challenger’s starting line-up is Protea Dale Steyn.

Steyn was a part of RCB in a couple of games in IPL 2019, before he was injured which eventually led to him missing the World Cup.

RCB’s squad include players like AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch and Chris Morris, who will have the edge over the speedster in the selection. Aaron Finch has been brought in to take the load off Virat Kohli and de Villiers, while Chris Morris is their proposed solution to the long-standing death bowling issues. With the pitches in UAE expected to be slow and assisting turn, Moeen is likely to be a part of RCB’s first XI considering his all-round abilities as a power-hitter against spin, as well as the vlaue he can provide with his own off-spin bowling.

RCB have Indian bowlers, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj and Navdeep Saini among whom only two will be a part of the playing XI. So Dale Steyn is likely to warm the bench.

4. Ajinkya Rahane

The last player in our list is Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane was traded into the Delhi Capitals from the Rajasthan Royals. With the team already having a gun Indian top order in Shaw, Dhawan, Iyer and Pant it is highly unlikely that Rahane will get a place in the DC playing XI.

Having Rahane as an opener instead of Dhawan will disrupt the LHB-RHB batting combination and Shaw will be expected to start considering the fact that Ponting-led management backed him for the entirety of the last season.

Unless a major injury happens, the above-mentioned players are unlikely to play a lot of games for the franchise.

Written by Sarthak Karkhanis. Follow Sarthak on Twitter today.