Top 3 Most Expensive IPL Players Who Spent Most of the Season on the Bench

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), teams tend to throw their wallets at the best talent in the industry via the auction process; however, many of those same acquisitions do not see regular playing time in the starting eleven throughout the course of the season. As a result, many players that come with a hefty price tag have ultimately been relegated to warming benches instead due to poor performance, constant injury issues, and/or a requirement on behalf of the organisation for using other combinations.

Sometimes, famous overseas players miss out because only four foreign players can be part of the XI. In other cases, Indian players who were bought for a high price fail to perform as expected. When this happens, teams choose players who are in better form, and the expensive buys are left watching from the dugout.

Top 3 Most expensive benched players in IPL history

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Tim David Batter

Tim David is a Singaporean-Australian cricketer known for his powerful hitting, primarily as a T20 specialist, who was born on March 16, 1996.

Australian all-rounder Tim David was bought by Mumbai Indians for INR 8.25 crore in the IPL 2022 auction. However, he played only two of their first seven matches. After scoring just 12 and 1, the powerful Australian batter was dropped from the team as MI began the season terribly, losing their first seven games. With the likes of Kieron Pollard, overseas fast bowlers, and South African teen Dewald Brevis in the fray, David was kept out of the XI despite his solid PSL form, where he hit 278 runs at a strike rate of 194. He eventually ended the season, featuring in eight games and scoring 186 runs. His absence had surprised former players like Wasim Jaffer and Graeme Swann, who questioned Mumbai’s decision to bench such an expensive recruit.

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Glenn Maxwell All-Rounder

With the Sehwag-esque ability to enthrall as well as exasperate, Glenn Maxwell blurred the line copy-book and agricultural, pulling off unorthodoxy with ease and fluency.

Glenn Maxwell’s IPL journey started with a lot of hype in 2013 when Mumbai Indians bought him for USD 1 million. But despite the excitement, he hardly got chances to play. He appeared in only three matches, scored 36 runs with a strike rate of 133.33, and spent most of the season on the bench. Mumbai's star-studded line-up led to Maxwell being often sidelined, unable to display the player he would later become famous for. Yet, this start did little to affect how teams viewed his potential. The following year, he was picked by Kings XI Punjab and immediately justified the hype with a sensational season.

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Chris Morris Bowling Allrounder

Even though South African all-rounder Chris Morris was bought for a huge amount, INR 10 crore, in the IPL 2020 auction, he had a very quiet season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB spent big on him to improve their death bowling, but a side strain delayed his debut and kept him out for most of the tournament. While Morris eventually featured in a handful of matches, he never got an extended run and spent most of the season on the bench due to constant fitness concerns and team combination changes. Despite the franchise qualifying for the playoffs, Morris featured in only nine games, picking 11 wickets and scoring 34 runs.

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