The mega auction before the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will mean an end to a lot of long-term player-team associations as the franchises will be allowed to retain a maximum of only four players and the rest of them will go into the auction pool.
Six of those unretained players will be picked by the two new franchises (three each) in a draft before the auction and there are several reports that some of the top Indian players don’t want to be retained by their franchises. As a few of them are looking to make a fresh start, while some of them want to go into the auction pool in expectation of a better paycheck.
While KL Rahul is most likely to leave Punjab Kings (PBKS), former captain of Delhi Capitals (DC) Shreyas Iyer too is looking to leave the franchise in search of leadership opportunities at another club, as per a report in the news agency PTI.
Iyer, who was given the captaincy midway during the 2018 season when Gautam Gambhir stepped down led the Delhi franchise for two and a half seasons and became the first captain to lead a Delhi franchise to a final. However, an injury in March this year meant his 2021 season was over and Rishabh Pant was made the new captain. The suspension and postponement of IPL meant Iyer could comeback into the team but they stayed with Pant as the captain for the rest of the season.
MI unlikely to retain Hardik Pandya
In another news, an IPL official privy to the developments told the news agency that Mumbai Indians (MI) may part ways with star all-rounder Hardik Pandya as there are very few chances of him getting retained by the five-time champions.
The source suggested that skipper Rohit Sharma, all-rounder Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah will be their automatic picks but chances are dim for Hardik.
“At this point in time, there is less than 10 percent chance that Hardik will be retained by MI. Yes, he might just outperform everybody in the next few T20 World Cup games but even then, chances are dim. If there are four retentions or 1 RTM, then Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are the contenders for that slot,” the IPL official added.
