5 Unlucky players who were released by IPL franchises

The IPL Auction 2020 is just a few weeks away as all the IPL franchises have released their respective lists of retained and released players. Like every year, a lot of big names feature in the list of released players and this year, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Andrew Tye, and Dale Steyn have been billed as the biggest releases. While the franchises would have considered the released players’ domestic numbers along with their performance in IPL, there were a few players in the list who have been doing well in the world of cricket outside the IPL whereas they never received a proper chance to prove their talent in the league. Here is a list of the 5 unlucky players who were released by the franchises before IPL 2020 Auction – 1. Liam Livingstone (Rajasthan Royals) Liam Livingstone. (Photo Source: Twitter) The dashing right-handed batsman from England, Liam Livingstone had made his IPL debut as a part of the Rajasthan Royals in 2019. He played just 4 matches for the inaugural IPL winners in the season, scoring 71 runs at a strike rate of 147.91. His highest score was 44 while Livingstone struck 6 fours and 5 sixes in those 4 games. The 26-year-old has often contributed to the bowling department as well however, Rajasthan made little use of his leg-spin during the season. Given that he was bought at a nominal price of 50 lakhs INR, Livingstone had justified his price tag with his performances. After being released from the team, Livingstone went on to state that he wants to skip IPL 2020 in order to focus on his first-class performances. 2. Jalaj Saxena (Delhi Capitals) Jalaj Saxena. (Picture Source: Hotstar) The Indian domestic cricket veteran, Jalaj Saxena is yet to make his debut in the cash-rich league. Saxena has a 10-year experience of playing T20 cricket and in those 10 years, the Indore-born all-rounder has played 54 T20 matches. He had been a part of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore before Delhi Capitals snapped him up at the auction for a price of 20 lakhs INR. Jalaj has scored 633 runs besides taking 49 wickets in his T20 career. The right-handed batsman has struck one half-century while he has recorded 2 four-wicket hauls with his off-spin. Though Delhi lacked a good Indian all-rounder in their playing XI, the team management never considered Jalaj Saxena. And now, he has been released by the team before the auction. Since Saxena has been performing well in the domestic circuit, the chances that he earns a new IPL contract are high. 3. Moises Henriques (Kings XI Punjab) Moises Henriques. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) The Australian all-rounder, Moises Henriques has been one of the biggest names in T20 cricket which is why the Kings XI Punjab went for him in the previous auction. After securing his services, Punjab had named him in the playing XI for a match however, a last-minute injury had ruled him out of the contest. The Portugal-born player never made it to the match squad of KXIP yet the franchise ended its association with him before the 2020 season. Henriques has an enormous amount of IPL experience having been a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, and Kolkata Knight Riders earlier. The 32-year-old who has scored 17 fifties in T20 cricket, was unlucky to be released but, he will prove to be a hot commodity in the upcoming auction. 4. Rahul Tripathi (Rajasthan Royals) Rahul Tripathi. (Photo: IANS) Another under-utilized talent released by Rajasthan Royals before the IPL Auction 2020 is Rahul Tripathi. The team management of the franchise never knew how to get the best out of the Maharashtra-based batsman. During the two seasons which Tripathi played for the Royals, he played as an opener, a middle-order batsman and a finisher. Since no one had an idea about his role in the team, they ended their contract with the player. However, this year, Tripathi would have proven to be a game-changer for Rajasthan because they do not have Ajinkya Rahane in the team. So, the upcoming batsman could have opened the innings with Jos Buttler and cemented his place in the team. Also, he had played a whirlwind knock of 63 runs off 27 deliveries for his state in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. This shows that he is in good form and thus, he was unlucky to be released. 5. Evin Lewis (Mumbai Indians) Evin Lewis. (Photo by Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) The West Indian left-handed opener, Evin Lewis has made a name for himself by playing aggressive cricket in the shortest format of the game. He had had a wonderful season with Mumbai Indians in 2018 where he scored 382 runs in 13 matches. His strike rate was above 135 while he averaged 29.38. His form witnessed a dip in 2019 as the hard hitter could only amass 48 runs in the 3 matches. The presence of Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma in the squad tempted the team management to drop Lewis from the playing XI. However, one should consider the fact that there have been a lot of players who have had an offseason and then they bounced back in style in the succeeding season. Mumbai should have shown patience with Lewis because he is a special talent.

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5 Unlucky players who were released by IPL franchises

These hardworking released players can be termed 'unlucky'.

5. Evin Lewis (Mumbai Indians)

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