IPL 2019: One player each team can release

The cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a witness to eleven jaw-dropping seasons. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the event for the third time to equal Mumbai Indians (MI) as the team with most title glories. The upcoming edition is a few months away and teams have already started looking into their combinations going into the 2019 season the T20 extravaganza. In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given the eight franchises a deadline in order to submit the list of released players. A deadline of November 15 has been set for the same. It also means that a number of players who underperformed last season may be left out for the next season. In our article, we take a look at one player from each franchise. Harbhajan Singh- Chennai Super Kings Harbhajan Singh. (Photo Source: Facebook) After plying his trade for Mumbai Indians (MI) for 10 seasons, off-break bowler Harbhajan Singh was released by the Rohit Sharma-led franchise. However, the seasoned campaigner was picked at his base price of INR 2 crore by Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Unfortunately, he didn’t have a memorable campaign by any means with seven wickets from 13 matches. Moreover, he conceded runs at an economy of 8.48, which is way higher than his IPL economy of 7.05. The 38-year-old also couldn’t make any impact with the bat lower down the order having scored 29 runs from 13 matches. CSK has as many as three tweakers in Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja and Karn Sharma, and releasing Harbhajan won’t spring much of a surprise. Gautam Gambhir- Delhi Daredevils Gautam Gambhir. (Photo Source: Twitter) Gautam Gambhir had a fairytale run with the Kolkata Knight Riders, but the veteran decided to move to the Delhi Daredevils (DD) and was roped in at INR 2.8 crores. The 37-year-old was appointed as the leader bearing in mind his past records. Nevertheless, the southpaw flattered to deceive and resigned from captaincy midway through the tournament. To add insult to injury, he didn’t play a single match thereafter as Shreyas Iyer captained the team. The left-hander started with a knock of 55 against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), but his campaign fell away and could only score 30 runs in the next four innings. His strike-rate of 96.59 was also on the lower side, which didn’t help him stay put in his position. Yuvraj Singh- Kings XI Punjab Yuvraj Singh. (Photo Source: Twitter) Following the initial editions of the IPL, Yuvraj Singh returned to the Punjab franchise and was drafted in at his base price of INR 2 crore. However, the seasoned campaigner found himself in and out of the team owing to his inconsistent form. He ended up playing eight matches in which he could only manage 65 runs at a rather forgettable average of 10.83. He let go a few chances of finishing games for his team and the same didn’t help his cause of featuring consistently in the team. He wasn’t able to do anything substantial with the leather and bowled only a couple of overs in which he leaked 23 runs without any success. With age not in his favour either, the axe may come down on the Chandigarh-born cricketer. Mitchell Starc- Kolkata Knight Riders Mitchell Starc. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) There’s no doubt regarding Mitchell Starc’s prowess as a bowler. But his frequent injuries have turned out to be major detriments to his career. The Sydney-born cricketer has played a couple of seasons for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after which he was released. The 28-year-old was bagged by the Knight Riders last season at a whopping INR 9.4 crore. Nonetheless, he developed a tibial bone stress fracture ruled him out of the tournament. Recently, the speedster made his comeback in the two-match Test series against Pakistan in the UAE but injured his hamstring in the second encounter. The Knights may release him owing to his injury-prone nature and bring in someone who can play the entire season. Kieron Pollard- Mumbai Indians Kieron Pollard of Mumbai Indians in action. (Photo by: IANS) Windies batsman Kieron Pollard has been representing the Mumbai franchise ever since the 2010 edition and has nearly 2,500 runs under his belt. The team used the Right to Match (RTM) card on him last season and brought him back for INR 5.4 crore. The Trinidadian couldn’t weave his magic by any stretch of the imagination, especially with the bat. The 31-year-old notched a half-century and apart from that, scored 83 runs in six innings, numbers which don’t justify Pollard’s ability with the willow in hand. Rohit’s side has recently released fast-bowler Mustafizur Rahman and spinner Akila Dananjaya and brought Quinton de Kock. Going forward, they may decide to release the hulk-like Pollard. D’Arcy Short- Rajasthan Royals D’Arcy Short of Rajasthan Royals. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS) The 28-year-old left-handed batsman D’Arcy Short had a superlative outing in the 2017-18 edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) and based on the performances, he got a contract of a substantial INR 4 crore from the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. The Northern Territory-born bowler was entrusted to open the batting, but he strained to put his best foot forward. With 115 runs from seven encounters at an average of 16.42, he was far from convincing. His strike-rate of 116 compared to his career strike-rate of 141 manifested his travails of adjusting in sub-continent conditions. The Royals can let him go and bring in someone to partner Englishman Jos Buttler at the top of the order, who is more adaptable to alien conditions. Corey Anderson- Royal Challengers Bangalore Corey Anderson and Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson initially remained unsold in the auction last season. Nevertheless, he got an opportunity when Nathan Courter Nile was ruled out of the event. Having already played for Mumbai, the 27-year-old has a fair amount of experience of playing in the T20 event, but the season turned out to be a mediocre one for him. The Canterbury-born played could only play three matches and could only muster 17 runs at an average of 5.66. Albeit he got three wickets, the left-armer leaked runs at an alarming rate of 13.26 and was their most expensive bowler. RCB have recently released South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock and Anderson may be the second one on the line. Carlos Brathwaite- Sunrisers Hyderabad Carlos Brathwaite. (Photo Source: Twitter) Carlos Brathwaite was brought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 2 crore. Unfortunately, he didn’t get many opportunities and the same was due to the presence of a number of overseas all-rounders in the SRH setup, including Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan. He got to play only four matches during the end of the eleventh season. He scored 75 runs in the contests with a top score of 43 from 28 balls, which came against Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Barbados-born cricketer also picked up five wickets, but chances of him playing on a consistent basis seem bleak provided some injury concerns don’t come to the fore for SRH.

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IPL 2019: One player each team can release

A deadline of November 15 has been set for the same.

Mitchell Starc- Kolkata Knight Riders

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