IPL: 5 Unexpected player releases which might take place on November 15

There are about five months more to go for the 13th edition of the IPL and there’s already a buzz. One reason is that the auction is only a little over a month away. Another reason is that the retention and the released players’ list is going to come out on the 15th of November. There is quite a bit of activity around the teams. The support staff of a few teams has changed and players have been traded as well. Ravichandran Ashwin is now a part of the Delhi Capitals. In return, Kings XI Punjab have got Jagadeesha Suchith and an additional INR 1.5 crore. Sherfane Rutherford and Mayank Markande have been traded as well with the former going to Mumbai Indians and the latter going to Delhi Capitals. There’s less than a week to go for the player list to come out. Thus, here we look at five unexpected things that might happen when players release or retain players ahead of the auctions. 1. KKR releasing Robin Uthappa Robin Uthappa. (Photo Source: Twitter) It was in 2014 that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought Robin Uthappa and he’s been one of the premier stars. He scored consistently for four seasons and hence, was retained again in 2018 (Right To Match) in the auctions. However, after scoring more than 350 runs for five successive seasons, Uthappa had a big lull in 2019. The Karnataka batsman could score 282 runs in the season. It’s not the runs but the approach and the intent that Uthappa showed that was concerning. He did start the season well and had scored 172 runs after the first five games at a strike-rate of 138.71. But his season went downhill after that. He struggled big time and sucked the momentum out of the innings most of the times he batted which costed KKR. He had scores of 28 off 30, 9 off 20 and 40 off 47 which underlines his struggles. Uthappa’s recent form in the Indian domestic season hasn’t been great either. Thus, we may well see a well-known KKR face like Uthappa get released this time around. 2. RCB retaining Akshdeep Nath Akshdeep Nath. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have often been guilty of splurging big money on certain players and they’ve not performed. Akshdeep Nath is one of the examples from last year. RCB went out and spent INR 3.6 crores to avail the services of the Uttar Pradesh cricketer. However, Nath couldn’t do justice to the price tag. He played eight games and was shifted up and down the order. Wherever he was tried, he couldn’t click. In five innings, he could muster a mere 61 runs at an average of 12.20. These runs came at a low strike-rate of 107.02 as well. Hence, there will be question marks over Nath’s place in the squad. However, RCB have always been questioned for their retentions. They retained Sarfraz Khan in 2018 over the likes of KL Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal and used RTM for Pawan Negi. Thus, you can expect the unexpected from RCB and they could well retain Nath despite his price tag and non-performance. 3. MI releasing Evin Lewis Mumbai Indians’ Evin Lewis in action. (Photo by IANS) Evin Lewis has been a part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) set-up for the last couple of years. He played 13 games in the 2018 season and scored 382 runs. However, he featured in just three games in 2019 with MI backing Quinton de Kock. Thus, it may not be a surprise if the four-time champions decide to part ways with the swashbuckling Caribbean opener. Moreover, Mumbai Indians (MI) have one of the best scouting teams in the IPL. Hence, they’ve shown interest in the new upcoming England star, Tom Banton. He had a wonderful season in the T20 Blast where he was very impressive and caught everybody’s eye. He recently made his international debut in the series against New Zealand. Thus, we may well see Lewis go out and Banton don the MI colours. 4. RR retaining Unadkat Jaydev Unadkat. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Rajasthan Royals (RR) have historically been a team that doesn’t break the bank and go all out for a particular player. But that has changed ever since they returned from their two-year ban. They haven’t been shy to spend big money on certain players. Jaydev Unadkat has been one among them. He’s made headlines for two successive seasons for the price he’s been bought for. After a brilliant 2017 season, Unadkat’s stocks rose and RR spent a whopping INR 11.5 crore for the left-arm pacer. However, his returns were underwhelming. The Saurashtra pacer picked up just 11 wickets from 15 games (economy of 9.66). Hence, he was back in the auction pool for the 2019 season. Surprisingly, RR went behind him again and this time, spent INR 8.4 crore on him. Unadkat had a similar season to the one in 2018 – 10 wickets from 11 games (economy of 10.41). However, with RR hell-bent behind Unadkat, they could well retain him for the next season. 5. SRH releasing Deepak Hooda Deepak Hooda of SRH plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter) Deepak Hooda is a common name in the IPL and needs little introduction. It was in 2015 that he grabbed everyone’s attention. Playing for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), the middle-order batsman scored at a strike-rate of 158.95 and was very impressive. When the franchise was banned in 2016, he was bought for a stunning amount of INR 4.2 crore (42 times his base price) by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, Hooda hasn’t recreated the same magic at SRH. Despite average returns in 2016 and 2017, SRH used their Right To Match (RTM) card to retain Hooda in 2018 for INR 3.6 crore. But the Baroda cricketer hasn’t had the best of times as he’s scored 151 runs at an average of 15.1 across two seasons. However, SRH seem to back Hooda quite a bit and it will be surprising if they release the 24-year-old ahead of the auctions.

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IPL: 5 Unexpected player releases which might take place on November 15

There’s less than a week to go for the player list to come out.

3. MI releasing Evin Lewis

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