With the IPL auction stated to take place in the later half of December, the franchises have expectedly opted for a small shuffle among its players. With some big foreign names likely to be part of the mini-auction, franchises have decided to take a big purse to the auction and in the process released few of their high price tag players. While there are few surprising releases, some are on expected lines as well due to their high price tag as well as poor returns. Let us go through each team and find out who were the surprising releases as well as retentions.
1. Chennai Super Kings – The M.S. Dhoni-led side did not have many eyebrow-raising releases, but one major release was of the Caribbean Superstar D.J. Bravo. Bravo was Dhoni’s loyal warrior who turned number of matches on their side on his own over the years. But with age not on his side, his release was always on cards. Apart from Bravo, CSK released retired Robin Uthappa, Adam Milne, Hari Nishaanth, Chris Jordan, Bhagath Varma, K.M. Asif, and Narayan Jagadeesan.
2. Mumbai Indians – Another Champion team and another Caribbean Superstar’s departure, this time it’s the Mumbai Indians letting go off Kieron Pollard, the Caribbean Giant who was with them for almost 10 years. Team Mumbai also feeling the need of securing the future and with Tim David in the ranks Pollard’s departure was always on cards. Apart from Pollard, other big names released by the franchise are Daniel Sams, Jaydev Unadkat, Fabian Allen, Tymal Mills, and the uncapped-Sanjay Yadav to name a few.
3. Sunrisers Hyderabad – After a dismal outing in the previous outing, Sunrisers Hyderabad have decided to undertake a revamp and, in the process, have let go off their skipper-Kane Williamson and Nicholas Pooran as well. These releases have freed up their purse to a good extent, but the orange army fans are quite upset with these releases. Apart from these two, Romario Shephard was also shown the exit door as he came with a high price tag and low returns in the previous season. These were some of the big names let go off by the Sunrisers.
4. Delhi Capitals – Touted as the most settled unit for the past 3-4 seasons, Delhi Capitals have expectedly released only a handful of players, of which Shardul Thakur is traded with the Kolkata Knight Riders. With only few spots to fill and around 19 crores in hand, expect the Rishabh Pant-led side to bring some big names to the already star-studded line-up.
5. Rajasthan Royals – The Runners-up of the previous season, the Royals have also retained most of their core team and have to just pick in few back-ups. However, the release of Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham and Rassie Van Der Dussen might sound strange given their base price retention an option for the Royals.
6. Royal Challengers Bangalore – Team Bangalore have also released only a handful of players and opted for a trade for Aussie-pacer Jason Behrendorff with the Mumbai Indians. No eyebrow-raisers from the Challengers this time around.
7. Lucknow Super Giants – The K.L. Rahul-led side have strangely released few of their key players who were touted as game-changers in the previous season. Jason Holder, Manish Pandey, Evin Lewis and Dushmantha Chameera have strangely faced the axe along with Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot and Shahbaz Nadeem. Though, high price tag could have been an issue with Jason Holder and Manish Pandey, they should have been retained according to me.
8. Gujrat Titans – A move that no one expected from the current Champions, that has sent shockwaves to the cricketing fraternity. It is the trade-off with the Kolkata Knight Riders of Kiwi-pacer Lockie Ferguson and Afghan-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Two in-form players in the recently concluded T20 World Cup and one can hardly find a consistent pace-machine like Ferguson in today’s world as well. Strange tactics from the Titans but expect them to cover up in the auctions.
9. Kolkata Knight Riders - A team which rocked the trade window with some stunning trade-offs which included Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson and Rahmanullah Gurbaz was earlier pegged back due to Pat Cummins and Alex Hales pulling out of the next IPL season. However, they did manage to get decent replacements even before the auction has begun. Ajinkya Rahane, Sheldon Jackson and Aaron Finch are few of the other big names let go off by the Knight Riders.
10. Punjab Kings – Last but not least, my favourite team since the inception of IPL, Punjab Kings. Another new season, another new coach and captain combination for the kings. This time around, it’s the experienced Shikhar Dhawan joining hands with Trevor Bayliss. Punjab Kings have yet again released their ex-skipper and this time its Mayank Agarwal. Along with Mayank, Odean Smith has also been shown the exit-door and high price-tags being one of the reasons for their exit. Punjab Kings have surprisingly kept faith on the under-performing domestic star, Shahrukh Khan and have retained him for a hefty price as well.
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