Thursday was the last day to submit the retention list to the IPL teams. This surprise was seen there. After 10 years, KKR did not retain IPL champion captain Shreyas Iyer. Kolkata Knight Riders, who led the IPL last time, cut Shreyas Iyer. A winning team doesn't usually fire its captain the following season. But Shah Rukh Khan's team walked that path.
Not just Shah Rukh Khan's team, five of the 10 teams in the IPL have dropped their captains from the team for the time being. This includes Lucknow Super Giants. Lucknow cutting KL Rahul was also expected. Because the way team owner Sanjeev Goenka excitedly 'scolded' KL Rahul after a couple of losses last time, the controversy did not subside.
Not just Kolkata or Lucknow, Delhi cut Rishabh Pant, Bengaluru Faf du Plessis and Punjab Shikhar Dhawan.
The Punjab Kings decided to auction Shikhar Dhawan is also understood. He could not meet the expectations of the team management last time. Now he doesn't get a place in any of India's Test, ODI, T20 teams. He could not do anything for Punjab last time.
Bengaluru's Faf du Plessio could not meet the team's expectations. This Marquette player has done well in many matches in the past. But last time he couldn't. The world of IPL is also very cruel. The management of the teams believes in 'Perform or Perish' principle.
However, Rishabh Pant of Delhi and Shreyas Iyer of Kolkata are being discussed the most on social media. A few days ago, Delhi sacked Sourav Ganguly as coach. Then they again surprised Panth.
The discussion has already started, how much other franchises will bid to buy Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer in the upcoming auction.
Who stayed?
Kolkata Knight Riders or KKR have paid the highest amount to Rinku Singh this time. Rinku received 13 crore rupees. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are getting 12 crores, Ramandeep and Harshal Rana are getting 4 crores. Mitchell Starc has also been released by KKR.
In 2018, Rinku, the son of a gas cylinder delivery man from Uttar Pradesh, came to play in KKR for 55 lakh rupees. He scored 893 runs in 46 matches in IPL. The strike rate is over 143. Rinku quoted Shahrukh's dialogue on social media and wrote — Hamari prem kahani avi shref shuru hui hai, pictur avi baki hai. Since then, speculation has started that KKR is going to make Rinku the captain.
Meanwhile, Chennai kept Dhoni in the team. Chennai team has united with Dhoni. He has been kept with four crore rupees. Apart from this there is Rituraj Gaikwad, 18 crores; Ravindra Jadeja 18 crores, Shivam Dube 12 crores, and Pathirana 13 crores.
Mumbai Indians have retained their five key players from last time. Captain Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar got Rs 16 crore 35 lakh, Rohit Sharma got Rs 16 crore 3 crore, Shivam Dubey got Rs 8 crore and Jasprit Bumrah got Rs 18 crore.
Then Rohit Sharma said, he is happy. He retired from T20 cricket for the country. He thinks that priority should be given to those who are playing for the country now. Still, he is happy that the team has kept him this way.
Punjab kept only two. Shashank Singh was given five and a half crores and Prabhasimran Singh was given four crores. They released everyone including Akashdeep.
In IPL, each team can buy players for 120 crore rupees. In that case, Punjab has the highest amount of 110 crore rupees to buy players from the auction. Mumbai Indians have the least. They will go to the auction with 45 crore rupees.
Bengaluru have given Virat Kohli 21 crores, Rajat Patidar 11 crores and Yash Dayal 5 crores. Gujarat Titans have hired Rashid Khan for Rs 18 crore. Sanju Samson is getting the same amount in Rajasthan Royals. Heinrich Klaasen is getting 23 crores in Sunrisers Hyderabad. He is the most expensive cricketer ever. Nicholas Pooran is being kept by Hyderabad Sunrisers for 21 crore rupees.
The retention phase is over for now. Be on the lookout for the IPL auctions towards the end of November. There it will be decided how much money the team is buying the cricketers.