Just over a week ago, India slipped to a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the World Cup final. After the completion of the tournament, a much-changed Australia and a new-look Indian side have locked horns in a T20I series. However, something else has hogged the headlines in the cricketing landscape – IPL retentions, releases and transfers, especially Hardik Pandya’s move to Mumbai Indians.
So, which players have been retained and released? What are the perceived weaknesses of the various IPL franchises? What could be their strategies going forward into the auction? Let’s scratch beneath the surface to get the bigger picture.
Mumbai Indians
Players retained: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff.
Released players: Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier.
Traded players: Romario Shepherd from Lucknow Super Giants. Acquired the services of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans, with Cameron Green shifting to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Purse: Rs 17.75 cr.
Hardik Pandya’s transfer to MI has been the talk of the town. The financial acquisition was facilitated by trading Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore, who in turn was bought by the franchise for Rs 17.5 cr. As far as the upcoming auction is concerned, MI would be eyeing a couple of pace bowlers, especially in the backdrop of Jofra Archer being released.
So, MI could end up bidding for Mitchell Starc and/or Gerald Coetzee. However, they have a remaining purse of 17.75 crore. So, they could spring a surprise or two by picking a young pace bowler like Aradhya Shukla or the very tall Nishanth Saranu, although the latter looks raw at the moment. Shamar Joseph, the young pacer from Guyana, seems to have the required raw materials as well.
Tim Southee and Alzarri Joseph could also be cheaper options. MI would also look to bolster the spin department. Wanindu Hasaranga, Kumar Kartikeya, Manav Suthar, Akeal Hosein, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Keshav Maharaj are some of the names that flash in the mind.
Punjab Kings
Players retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Jitesh Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Atharva Taide, Harpreet Bhatia, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Liam Livingstone, Gurnoor Singh Brar, Shivam Singh, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis.
Released players: Mohit Rathee, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh, Raj Bawa, Shahrukh Khan.
Photo: iplt20.com
Purse: Rs 29.1 cr.
In the past, Punjab Kings had been criticised for not keeping the core of the side intact. However, this time, they have decided to release only five players. Jonny Bairstow, who has returned from a freak injury after missing out on the last IPL season, will be one of the key members of the side.
With Shahrukh Khan going back into the auction, PBKS would be hoping to pick up a power-hitter. Rilee Rossouw, Tristan Stubbs or even Harry Brook could be coming into the equation, even though Brook bats higher up the order. PBKS also have to look at adding more depth to their domestic core. Sameer Rizvi might find some interest.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Players retained: Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Vyshak Vijaykumar.
Released players: Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, David Willey, Wayne Parnell, Sonu Yadav, Avinash Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Kedar Jadhav.
Traded players: Shahbaz Ahmed out. Mayank Dagar and Cameron Green in.
Purse: Rs 23.25 cr
RCB surprised analysts by releasing the likes of Hasaranga and Josh Hazlewood. Harshal Patel also hasn’t been retained. But Andy Flower, the head coach, later revealed the reason for Hazlewood’s release. “I’ve just come off the phone with Josh. He, very pleasingly, has a baby on the way, due at the end of March. So Josh won’t be with us, certainly not for the first half of the season.”
RCB, however, have kept faith in Anuj Rawat and Mahipal Lomror as the back-up options, with the likes of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Green and Glenn Maxwell expected to fire on all cylinders in largely good conditions for batting at the Chinnaswamy. Obviously, RCB have to revamp the bowling line-up, but they have to also keep in mind the available budget. So, they too have to go down the route of MI and look for slightly cheaper buys.
Lucknow Super Giants
Players retained: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq.
Released players: Daniel Sams, Karun Nair, Jaydev Unadkat, Manan Vohra, Karan Sharma, Suryansh Shedge, Swapnil Singh, Arpit Guleria.
Traded players: Romario Shepherd and Avesh Khan have been traded out, while Devdutt Padikkal has been traded in.
Purse: Rs 13.15 cr.
Let’s straightaway zoom the microscope on Devdutt Padikkal. With Kyle Mayers and KL Rahul expected to bat at the top of the order, Padikkal would likely slot in at No 3. Just that the wickets in Lucknow have been quite slow over a period of time and Padikkal depends on economy of movement to land his shots. So, it would be interesting to see how Padikkal adjusts to the slow nature of the tracks.
Meanwhile, Deepak Hooda had a horrendous run with the bat in IPL 2023, averaging just 7.63. LSG, though, have kept faith in the middle-order bat. In the auction, they have limited budget and could zero in on Harshal, considering the slow nature of the decks at home. Rizvi and Swastik Chikara, who both succeeded in the UPT20 League, and Atit Sheth, the all-rounder, could also be in the fray. Just like Rizvi, Chikara is a powerful hitter through the on-side.
Gujarat Titans
Players retained: David Miller, Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma.
Players released: Alzarri Joseph, Odean Smith, Dasun Shanaka, Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan.
Players traded: Hardik Pandya out.
Purse: Rs 38.15 cr.
GT have released four pace bowlers and two seam-bowling all-rounders. With Rs 38.15 crore to splurge, they are set to make their entry into some of the major bidding wars. It could be for Starc, Travis Head or Rachin Ravindra.