Even as the first deadline for the retentions is approaching, the franchises are in talks with players, sometimes even out-of-turn, in a bid to get their preferred personnel. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) authorities have also been apprised of this and the BCCI is believed to have assured the franchises that they will keep a watch. IPL 2022 is the most awaited league.
The eight original teams have November 30 to decide their retentions and already speculations are rife as to who is being retained, discarded or poached. It is a no-brainer that MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the three biggest names in the IPL, will be retained by Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. Excited for IPL Mega Auctions.
Rishabh Pant is set to stay on as captain of Delhi Capitals in IPL but Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan Royals skipper, is believed to be undecided if he wants to stick around. Negotiations are also underway between Rashid Khan and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Afghanistan leggie, one of the best T20 bowlers in the world, wants to be retained as the No. 1 player and the franchise may want to give that privilege to Kane Williamson, one of the most revered captains in world cricket. For the record, the difference between the two positions is Rs 4 crore (more than half a million dollars).
KL Rahul is all set to leave Punjab Kings and one of the new franchises, most likely Lucknow, could rope him in. The Pandya brothers – Hardik and Kurnal – may be approached by the new Ahmedabad franchise in IPL if they don’t figure in the Mumbai Indians’ retention list. Shreyas Iyer, it is learnt, will prefer to be in the auction pool rather than being retained while Shikhar Dhawan, too, is one of the players hotly pursued by the two new teams.
The other big retention talk is that some players are unwilling to stay with a few franchises and the management also is not exactly fretting over it. The franchises would rather go in with a full purse and buy afresh. Others, depending on the number of their retentions, will have less funds. IPL 2022 would be exciting as there would be two new teams and the tournament would be consisting of 10 teams. The franchise would be of Ahmedabad and Lucknow
Retention Cards
Chennai Super Kings: Besides Dhoni, CSK are likely retain Ravindra Jadeja and Ruturaj Gaikwad. One of Moeen Ali, Sam Curran and Faf du Plessis will be their choice for the foreign player retention, with the franchise confirming that skipper Dhoni will have the final say on that matter. A top CSK official told Sporty Vaibhav that the franchise will try hard to buy back the players in the auction they fail to retain in the IPL Mega Auctions
Mumbai Indians: It could be Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan apart from Rohit but the internal debate for the five-time champions is on Kieron Pollard who is being seen as retention material. MI is unlikely to let him go in the IPL Mega Auctions to be held next year and the teams would decide their fate on 30th November, that they have to retain which players in there team.
Delhi Capitals: Apart from Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje/Kagiso Rabada are said to be in DC’s retention list. The big debate in their camp is around Avesh Khan, who has done well. Having still not played for India, he could come for just Rs 4 crore, the price tag for an uncapped player. Delhi Capitals would hoping for a title in the IPL 2022 Season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Besides, Kohli, the others in the retention list could be Devdutt Paiddikal, Yuzvendra Chahal/Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell. The point to ponder for them is who will be their skipper. With KL Rahul unlikely to be available in the auction, they need a quality player to step into the shoes of Kohli, who has given up captaincy.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: They could end up with only one retention in Williamson, who is set to continue as their captain as well. The second retention could be Rashid Khan but Sporty Vaibhav understands that a hard bargain is ongoing between the two parties in the IPL Mega Auctions.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler is certain. Yashasvi Jaiswal, too, is likely to be retained by RR. Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes are also in contention as preferred choices for the franchise. Sanju Samson would lead the team once more in IPL 2022. Rajasthan Royals would be looking to built a team around Sanju Samson and hoping for a massive Comeback this time
Punjab Kings: A couple of uncapped players like Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh might be retained. Shahrukh Khan, who recently smashed a last-ball six in the SMAT final, is also on that radar too. I think Nicholas Pooran would be the captain of them this time. K.L. Rahul would be released and if RCB takes him then the team is complete, it would be having a great captain.
Kolkata Knight Riders: The frontline choices seem to be Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, whom the franchise has taken much care of. The likes of Shubman Gill and Andre Russell follow. They have a great comeback last season from being in the bottom of the table for the first half and in the second half reaching the finals and losing it to CSK.
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