IPL 2018: 5 big names who failed to get retained

All the eight franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) have announced the players they will retain for the upcoming season in 2018. All these franchises, including the ones who are making a comeback after a two-year ban, made some obvious and a few surprising calls. This is bound to remain the talking point in the cricket frenzy country for the next week or so. Each team has a salary cap of Rs. 80 Crore, which is Rs. 14 Crore more than the previous year’s limit. BCCI realized that the perks of retaining few big players are that the fan base of the club is maintained. Many can’t imagine MS Dhoni or Virat Kohli playing for any club other than Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers respectively. Well, the battles lines have been drawn for an exciting auction this month. Bangalore will be hosting the bidding war on January 27th and 28th. This is all set to be the biggest auction in IPL history after the inaugural one. Whilst the fans are hoping to see some high profile players join their teams, no one has a clue as to what the franchises are thinking. Here’s the list of five big names, who failed to make the cut as far as retention is concerned. 1. Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir. (Photo Source: Twitter) Two-time IPL winning captain, who has one of the best records as the leader, fourth highest run-scorer in IPL history. Despite all his incomparable achievements, Gautam Gambhir wasn’t retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders. The southpaw is certainly one performer of the best in IPL history and a lot of teams will be battling it out with each other for him. After three diabolical seasons initially, it was Gambhir’s leadership that made this club a fan favourite and a force to reckon with. But before the other franchises get too excited about this, they have to realise one thing. They still have the RTM card to redeem and it will come as a huge surprise if KKR don’t continue with Gambhir. 2. Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: Twitter) Goodness Gracious! Ravichandran Ashwin in the auction will create a havoc during the bidding war. Unfortunately for Chennai Super Kings, they can’t use their Right to Match card to retain him. They already retained three Indian capped players, which denies them an opportunity to use the card for another capped Indian player. Although Ashwin has been confining himself mostly to the longest format these days, he still is a match-winner in the limited-over formats. If CSK wants him, they will have to buy him and outbid their opponents, which will be incredibly difficult. He’s definitely one of the players to watch out for in the upcoming Auctions. 3. Dwayne Bravo CSK. (Photo Source: Twitter) Another huge miss for the Chennai Super Kings will be Dwayne Bravo. The Caribbean all-rounder didn’t get retained by their side for obvious reasons. But this lad has been one of their finest performers and will be remembered as one of the best in their club history. Not just with the ball, Bravo is very useful with the bat as well. A two-time Purple cap winner, Dwayne Bravo’s asking price will be astronomical but CSK can use their RTM card to get him back. The former Windies skipper’s death over exploits are something MS Dhoni wouldn’t want to miss out on. 4. Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan. (Photo Source: Twitter) The Sunrisers Hyderabad fans will be gutted once they listen to this news. Shikhar Dhawan was shown the tunnel towards the auction by the management. They retained their talismanic players David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, which doesn’t surprise anyone. But many expected Dhawan to be their third retained player. Well, there’s nothing to worry as yet as they can still use their RTM card in the auction. This is highly likely to happen as David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have been one of the best opening pairs in IPL history. It’ll be very interesting to see what price will Dhawan get in the auction. 5. Chris Lynn Chris Lynn of the Heat bats during the Big Bash League match. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images) One of the best T20 cricketers in the world right now, Chris Lynn not getting retained is indeed a big IPL cricket news. The Kolkata Knight Riders’ management will be eager to get his services back with the RTM card. But at what price will he be going to the auction, in our view, absolutely astronomical! A bidding war is certain for Chris Lynn and his consistency at this level is a testament to this. He can spank any ball out of the park without doing anything too audacious. One of the cleanest strikers in the cricket history, Lynn did perform well for the Knight Riders last time, but this indeed is a huge call taken by their management.

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IPL 2018: 5 big names who failed to get retained

Well, the battles lines have been drawn for an exciting auction this month. Bangalore will be hosting the bidding war on January 27th and 28th.

5. Chris Lynn

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