Indian Premier League has truly integrated diverse nationalities to come together for a mega sporting event. The players have been lapped up by the franchises based on their needs. But still some of the key players found themselves warming the bench this whole season. Only 11 can take the field on a particular day and the teams in pursuit of finding a perfect combination failed to figure in these promising players. Let’s take a look at these 11 cricketers who have played two or less than two matches for their teams this season till now. So lets see who makes it into the IPL BENCHED XI for this season ?
TOP ORDER
1) Usman Khawaja
The Australian opener was roped in by Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 as a replacement due to injuries to Kevin Pietersen and Faf du Plessis. Owing to his brilliant form in Big Bash League for Sydney Thunders, he was retained by RPS for IPL 2017. But he couldn’t play even a single game as RPS found a perfect combination of overseas players in Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Daniel Christian and Imran Tahir. The impressive performance of Rahul Tripathi as an opener also meant that Khawaja remained at the sidelines.
2) Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis was in the thick of things for RPS in IPL 2016. But with all rounders Ben Stokes and Daniel Christian roped in, the South African batsman could only play two games this season. He batted in just one of them before leaving for national duty.
ALSO READ : Five IPL legends who may be playing in their last season
3) Ishank Jaggi
An impressive domestic prospect, Ishank Jaggi was one of the few smart picks by KKR for just Rs 10 lakh. He was a prolific scorer in the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand this season and is the leading scorer in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy with 1,246 runs at an average in excess of 34. But with KKR riding on some great wins this season, Jaggi hasn’t got even a single game so far.
