JOIN USTeams chant retain mantra
Defending champions Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals exhausted all their five retentions available ahead of the auction for the seventh edition of the IPL as the franchises on Friday submitted their list to the Governing Council.
Almost all the established India players have been retained by their respective franchises. CSK predictably retained skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo.
Mumbai Indians went with their skipper Rohit Sharma, senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard, Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga and Ambati Rayudu.
Aussie pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson will in all likelihood be picked up with ‘Right to Match’ card while Dinesh Karthik has also got the boot.
Royal Challengers Bangalore had on Thursday retained their captain Virat Kohli, Jamaican Chris Gayle and South African ODI and T20 skipper AB de Villiers. Rajasthan Royals retained Australian Shane Watson, who will lead the side in IPL-VII along with left-arm seamer James Faulkner. India internationals Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny too were retained. The franchise also retained talented India colts wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson, who did well for the franchise in the Champions League T20.
Kings XI Punjab retained hard-hitting South African left-hander David Miller and talented Punjab opener Manan Vohra. Kolkata Knight Riders retained their skipper Gautam Gambhir along with spinner Sunil Narine. Delhi Daredevils unanimously decided against retention of their existing players going into the IPL auction that will be held in Bangalore on February 12 and 13.
The Delhi management explaining the decision said “it was the unanimous decision of the management with the focus of building a fresh team that the fans would be proud of”. Since they have decided not to retain any of the players they will have the full purse of Rs 60 crore during the auction. Royals will be going into auction with Rs 22.5 crore purse. KKR and Sunrisers (both with Rs 38 crore) and Kings XI Punjab (Rs 43.5 crore) have two Right to March Card each.
While David Warner, Morne Morkel (both DD) are expected to be back in their respective franchises with ‘Right To Match’ cards, the same can be expected for Quinton de Kock (Sunrisers), Faf du Plessis (CSK), Mitchell Johnson (MI), Mohammed Shami (KKR).
CSK and MI will have the least purse of Rs 21 crore going into auction. Explaining the decision to opt for five-player retention, Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani said: “The formidable combination of these five players - Rohit, Pollard, Malinga, Bhajji and Rayudu - forms the nucleus of Mumbai Indians. They have exemplified the spirit of Mumbai Indians and are match-winners in their own right.”
"With the retention of the core players, Mumbai Indians look forward to build a stronger, well-knit team and share the joy of an enthralling and entertaining performance with its ever-growing fans in the coming season," she further added.Dinesh Karthik is another player who has missed out on retention as Rayudu being a specialist batsman and his ability to do a decent job behind the stumps tilted the scales in his favour. As far as Malinga is concerned, he has been a game changer for MI at the death overs and the possibility of some of the matches being played in Sri Lanka may have prompted the team management to take a call in the slinger's favour.
KKR CEO Venky Mysore said, “We are delighted that we have managed to retain two of our key players. We hope to build a competitive and exciting squad. The challenges of salary cap deductions and the retention rules did not allow us to retain more of our original team, who made us proud over the past three years.” KKR will have 38 crores of salary cap space and two retention cards.
Ranjib Biswal, chairman of IPL said,”The regulations were drafted taking into account franchise, player and fan feedback. Continuity of the core players in the teams is very important and the retention of these twenty four players, coupled with the “rights to match” (RTM) to be used in the auction, is a good sign. I am very pleased to see three uncapped Indian players in the list of players retained.”