ALL OF THE EIGHT franchises taking part in the 11th edition of the IPL confirmed the players that they have retained from the previous season. While some of the picks seemed obvious, some very surprising.
Prior to the players’ retention event, it was known that each franchise will have an opportunity to retain five of its players – either via player retention or through Right to Match (RTM), which is set to take place during the IPL player auction on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru. As per rules stated by IPL GC, a franchise can have a maximum of either three retentions or three RTMs. Franchises can opt to retain three players and avail two RTMs or retain two players and avail three RTMs.
India skipper Virat Kohli emerged as the most expensive player in the IPL history as Royal Challengers Bangalore forked out INR 17 crore for the prolific batsman’s services. However, Kohli wasn’t the only player to beat the previous best i.e. when Rising Pune Supergiant splashed INR 14.5 crore for Ben Stokes, last season. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were retained by Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians respectively for INR 15 crore each.
Other players who earned the big bucks were David Warner, Steve Smith, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, AB de Villiers, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Meanwhile, there were a few big names that were released by the franchises. While the same players can be sought by the respective franchises during the players’ auction using the right to match cards, their absence was startling. We take a look at some of these stars who were snubbed by their franchises.