Soon after the completion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, fans had eagerly awaited the retention day to see if their favourite players would get retained by their franchises for the next edition.
While many names made it to the list, there were some surprises that left fans ‘clean bowled’ after the IPL 2022 Retention was announced.
The biggest surprise came in the form of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The franchise retained Kane Williamson as their skipper, which was known, however, they went on to release David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Holder and even Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In fact, they went on to retain uncapped players from Jammu and Kashmir – Abdul Samad and Umran Malik.
As for the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise, they had a lot to choose from, but they excluded the Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal – and also left out Ishan Kishan as they went in with Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah and last entry being Suryakumar Yadav.
The exit of Yuzvendra Chahal, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis and Shubman Gill from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) respectively have also not sat well with fans and critics alike.
When it comes to Delhi Capitals (DC) big names like Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer have all been released.
However, there are some big names who themselves opted to be placed in the auction namely KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer who could be the pick by the two new teams – Lucknow and Ahmedabad – and even become their skipper.
A few sides other than the two new franchisees would also be looking for a captain like Bangalore, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and even KKR. Iyer, Warner, Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul are all contingent to come captains of the various franchises.
The mega-auction of the IPL 2022 edition will be the highlight of the tournament with all 10 teams going in with all news players.
