The preparations for next year’s IPL tournament are in full swing and on Tuesday, November 30, the BCCI declared the list of players that have been either retained or released by the 8 participating teams. Some big names have been included in both the released and the retained groups. This exercise comes ahead of the IPL mega auction that is scheduled to take place later in December or in early January.
Indian T20 Vice-Captain KL Rahul Among Star Players Released
The release of Indian T20 Vice-Captain KL Rahul by the Punjab Kings has come as a surprise since the concerned player performed well for the team. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, who has been retained by the Punjab-based team, were pretty lethal as openers in IPL 2021.
Speaking to the media, Punjab Kings senior coach had this to say about the decision- “We wanted to retain him (KL Rahul). That was the reason we chose him as the captain, as the fulcrum of the team two years ago but he decided to go into the auction. We respect that, it’s the player’s prerogative.”
The Mumbai Indians have said goodbye to one of its biggest players Hardik Pandya. He had been an integral part of the Reliance-owned team for the last few years. However, this stance from the Mumbai side was expected following Pandya’s poor run of form in the current T20 season. Pandya was also subjected to a lot of criticism for lying about his injury status. This resulted in his underwhelming performances throughout the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The biggest surprise has come in the form of the exclusion of fan-favorite Rashid Khan from the list of retained players of Sunrisers Hyderabad. This has come after Rashid Khan took the most number of wickets for the Hyderabad-based outfit. Internal sources have suggested that the team and Khan’s representatives could not reach an amicable solution concerning his contract. Losing such an important player would surely hurt Hyderabad fans.
The loss of Rashid Khan was the main point of discussion between reporters and Sunrisers CEO K Shammi. He said, “If a player wants to be in the auction because of the price, we respect his decision. We will try and match him and see if we can pick him in the auction for the right price.”
Virat Kohli Leads Line Of Players Retained
Indian Test and ODI captain, , has been retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Apart from cricketing factors, the star power that Kohli brings to the team he is associated with, makes him the center of attraction of any team. So this was something that was expected from RCB.
Joining him in the list of retained players are the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant. Rohit Sharma is on a high these days following his side’s win over New Zealand in the recently-concluded T20 series played in India. Sharma is also the most successful IPL captain of all time. So this was an easy decision on the part of the Indians.
Seen as a shrewd decision, Jadeja was picked ahead of MS Dhoni for 16 Cr by the board members of reigning champions Chennai Super Kings. Jadeja has been in good form this season across all formats and valuing his stature would make the player even more confident of his abilities. The future of Dhoni remains slightly uncertain as he has given hints of retirement recently. No wonder he was placed in
the second position after compatriot Jadeja and capped under the price tag of 12 Cr.
Plethora Of Foreign Players Retained By Different Teams
Several top foreign players have been retained by their respective franchises. Bangalore has kept faith with its Australian allrounder Glenn Maxwell. He could be a good choice going into next year’s T20 season, as he has just won the T20 World Cup with his national side and would be defending it in his home territory in 2022.
This year’s finalists and two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders have prevented their West Indian duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell from leaving their camp. These two senior Caribbean players have been playing for the Kolkata outfit for quite some time now and have helped the team put up great performances over the years. Their West Indian teammate Kieron Pollard, however, will not be seen with the Mumbai Indians anymore.
CSK has opted to keep England allrounder Moeen Ali over the likes of Sam Curran, South African skipper Faf Du Plessis, and Dwayne Bravo. Bravo was expected to leave the Chennai side after the conclusion of this year’s edition. He has been a great utility player for the Super Kings and has played a total of nine seasons for them. Chennai fans would miss him enormously.