IPL 10: Benched Players XI of the first week

Middle-Order:

Shaun Marsh

The left-handed batsman from Australia is one of the few players to have been associated with a single franchise since the inception of IPL. He is with the Kings XI Punjab squad since the year 2008 and won the Orange Cap for being the leading run-getter in the very first season. Post that edition, he went on to play for the Australian national side. But this year, he hasn’t played a single game for Punjab as Hashim Amla is doing well at the opener’s slot and even the middle-order is firing this time around without him.

Marsh has an outstanding IPL record over the years. He has played 62 matches for Kings XI and has scored 2213 runs at an average of 40.98 and a strike rate of 132.36. He also has a century and 18 fifties in his account. He would feel unlucky to miss out but to have him in the wings, Kings XI would be assured to have a good replacement for the opener’s slot or even for the middle-order position for that matter.

Eoin Morgan

The Englishman has been associated with IPL for quite some time and has played for several franchises. He was first with Royal Challengers Bangalore, then he moved to Kolkata Knight Riders and last year, he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In this year’s player auction, he was picked up by Kings XI Punjab for INR 2 crore but hasn’t got a game so far. He has been in a superb form of late for his international side and would be raring to play.

He has been the main man behind the resurrection of England team in limited overs cricket since he became the captain of the ODI and T20I team. His aggressive style of captaincy and batting has turned it around for England for the last couple of years after their dismal show in the 2015 ODI World Cup. But his IPL record is not good as it could have been. In 48 matches, he has 793 runs at an average of 22.03 with only 4 half-centuries. But his current form is great and the Punjab side might look to bring him in at some stage of the tournament.