IPL 2023: Rating teams based on their retentions and releases

The preparations for the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League are in full swing. Ahead of the IPL 2023 auction scheduled on December 23 in Kochi, franchises have released the players who do not fit into their scheme of things going forward. All the teams submitted their list of released and retained players on November 15.

Franchises such as Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals have stuck with their core group while teams such as Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have freed up a lot of slots in a bid to revamp their unit. Here we look at all ten franchises and rate them based on their retentions and releases.

10. Mumbai Indians - 6/10

Mumbai Indians have retained a solid Indian batting core along with the swashbuckling overseas trio of Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, and Tim David. Thus, Mumbai’s batting line-up looks quite intimidating. However, the five-time IPL champions have released a total of 13 players including Kieron Pollard, who has hung his boots in the IPL arena. 

MI seems to have backed raw talent over experience. And this is evident from their ploy to persist with young spinners Kumar Kartikeya and Hrithik Shokeen, and let go of Mayank Markande and Murugan Ashwin. Moreover, on the seam-bowling front, MI has kept the likes of Arshad Khan and Arjun Tendulkar in the team and parted ways with Jaydev Unadkat. 

With a fairly inexperienced bowling attack, Mumbai might struggle to find an Indian bowler to partner with Jasprit Bumrah. However, the think tank has done well to trade ace left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff from Royal Challengers Bangalore to bolster their pace cartel.

With Pollard retired and Daniel Sams released, Mumbai does not have many all-round options in their mix. Thus, they would need to go shopping for a high-quality all-rounder such as Cameron Green, Sam Curran, and Jason Holder. However, MI has INR 20.45 CR in their bag which might not prove to be enough to cover all bases.