A number of top cricketers have not been retained by their respective teams ahead of the IPL mega auction.
A total of 27 cricketers, including eight overseas and four uncapped players, were retained by the existing eight franchises during the IPL retentions which took place on Tuesday. But a number of top cricketers have not been retained by their respective teams. This can be both good or bad for the players as they can either get picked by the two new franchises before the auction, or go back to the auction pool where they stand a chance to go for a higher or lower price.
Here is a look at the big names missing from the retention list
Mumbai Indians: MI have the toughest decisions to make every time IPL retention takes place before the mega auction and this year was no different. The most successful team of the IPL, MI (with five titles) have retained Rohit Sharma (Rs 16 Crore), Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 12 Crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 8 Crore) and Kieron Pollard (Rs 6 Crore) but the likes of Ishan Kishan, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya had to be let go of.
MI big names released:Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Trent Boult.
Chennai Super Kings: Four-time champions CSK retained Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 16 Crore), MS Dhoni (Rs 12 Crore), Moeen Ali (Rs 8 Crore), and Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 6 Crore) but there was no place for the likes of Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo. All three of them, particularly Bravo and Raina, have been an integral part of the CSK se-up for quite some time but the franchise, it appears, has decided to look ahead into the future.
CSK big names released:Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar
Royal Challengers Bangalore:RCB did not have many tough choices to make after AB de Villiers announced that he would no longer be a part of the IPL. But their decision to retain only Mohammed Siraj and not last season’s purple cap holder Harshal Patel raised a few eyebrows. There was no place for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal too.
RCB big names released:Harshal Patel, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders:The two-time IPL winners stuck with their trusted Caribbean firepower of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. There was a lot of faith shown on young guns Varun Chakaravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer which meant there was no place for Shubman Gill.
KKR big names released: Shubman Gill, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi.
Delhi Capitals:If there was any team that could match the headache of MI on retention day, it was DC. The Delhi-based franchise had a host of stars to choose from but with four retentions allowed, could only keep Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje.
DC big names released:Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Marcus Stoinis, Kagiso Rabada.
Rajasthan Royals:They were heavily depended on their overseas battery, which meant it was always going to be difficult to retain the core as IPL retention rules allowed only two foreign recruits. RR went ahead with Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler while uncapped Yashasvi Jaiswal was the surprise pick.
RR big names released:Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mustafizur Rahman
SunRisers Hyderabad:They haven’t been having the best of times in the IPL, which showed in their retention policy. But even then, letting Rashid Khan go into the auction pool was a tad surprising. SRH retained Kane Williamson, uncapped cricketers Abdul Samad and Umran Malik.
SRH big names released: David Warner, Rashid Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Punjab Kings:There were multiple reports suggesting that KL Rahul won’t be a part of the franchise anymore and unfortunately for the PBKS fans, all of them came true. The Punjab Kings decided to retain Mayank Agarwal and uncapped left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh in their side.
PBKS big names released:KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami.