5 Players who made IPL franchises regret the decision of releasing them

There have been a lot of instances in Indian Premier League (IPL) history where franchises have opted to release non-performing yet highly paid and rated acquisitions deeming them as failures. The hunt for a player who can deliver the goods instantly is the prime factor which drives this decision.

In certain cases, the decision has backfired to a great extent and resulted in a lot of regret over the folly. Some players have turned their performance to a different, unexpected level after moving to a new team and have often hurt their previous franchise doing well against them. Let’s take a look at the 5 players whom the IPL franchises will surely regret letting go.

1. Chris Gayle – Kolkata Knight Riders

Chris Gayle is arguably the greatest batsman in the T20 format. His exploits in the Indian Premier League while representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore are well known. However, like every other human, even Gayle had a period of inconsistency and failure in his career.

He was signed up by the Kolkata Knight Riders for the first season of the Indian Premier League after a spellbinding performance in the inaugural World T20 and his reputation of being a big hitter. Sadly his performances for the Knight Riders in the initial three seasons were not at the level demanded which led to the decision of releasing him for the IPL 4 player auction.

RCB opted to sign him up as a replacement for their injured overseas bowler Dirk Nannes and the rest is history. The Knight Riders will surely be ruing at that cursed moment when they took the ill-fated decision.