After the conquering of the IPL 2021 by the Yellow Army, IPL 2022 is on its way and started with the retentions which took place recently. It is seen that a total of 27 cricketers which includes eight overseas and four uncapped players were retained by the eight existing franchises. Amidst some strange decisions by different franchises, it is seen that a number of top cricketers have not been retained by their respective teams.
Also, with the addition of two new franchises, these players can either be picked by them before the auction or head towards the auction pool so that they could get them for a higher or a lower price.
In this particular piece, we will be looking at some of the big names in the game of cricket who are missing from the IPL 2022 retention list.
Big names released from MI and CSK
Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL which contains many star players and it’s always been a tough decision for them to make as this time they had to let go of the likes of Ishan Kishan, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya.
Pandya couldn’t do much with the bat and ball in the 12 matches that he played during the 2021 season scoring just 127 runs with a strike rate of just 113.39. On the other hand, boult has been the core of the fast-bowling unit with 13 wickets taken last season while appearing for 14 matches and with a decent economy of 7.90. The Franchise also let go of the likes of the young Ishan Kishan who played for 10 matches during the last season scored 241 runs for MI with a strike rate of 133.88.
The second most successful team and four-time champions and also the winner of the previous season Chennai Super Kings have decided to look ahead into the future while letting go few big names in cricket who also have been an integral part of the CSK set-up for a long period of time. They didn’t retain Faf du Plessis who scored a lot of runs for the side. During the last season, Faf played fabulously by scoring a total of 633 runs in the 16 matches that he appeared with a strike rate of 138.20. Secondly, Dwayne Bravo who was a core bowler for the especially making his presence in death over bowling wasn’t retained by the franchise. Suresh Raina was also not retained who has been a part of the franchise for a long period and also his performance was not that impactful during the last season.
Big names released from DC and SRH
Decisions made by Delhi Capitals to retain players might have been a headache for them with only four retentions allowed. They had to let go of the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Shreyas Iyer. Dhawan was brilliant for the side during the last season where he scored a total of 587 runs in 16 matches with a strike rate of 123.62.
Hyderabad’s policy of retaining its players is seen to be surprising while letting go of the likes of David Warner, Rashid Khan, and Manish Pandey. The release of Rashid Khan, the prime bowler from the side, to let him go into the pool of auction left many questions that are arising among the fans. Khan took 18 wickets during the last season while playing for 14 matches with a bowling economy of 6.69.
Big names released from PBKS and KKR
Punjab Kings didn’t retain their star player KL Rahul along with letting go of the likes of Chris Gayle and Mohammad Shami. In an interesting decision to not include the star performers for the side in the previous season, both Rahul and Shami were the ones impacting with the bat and bowl respectively. Rahul scored 626 runs in 13 matches with a strike rate of 138.80. On the other hand, Shami played for 14 matches and picked up 19 wickets for PBKS with a decent economy of 7.50.
The two-time IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders are seen to be stuck with their Caribbean firepower while letting go of the likes of Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, and the young Shubman Gill. Young Gill played for 17 matches while scoring 478 runs for the franchise.