Ranking top 10 worst player retentions in IPL history

The Indian Premier League has been the most talked-about tournament in the T20 format. Multiple factors have contributed to its success. Talk about players, coaches, management, celebrities, and money, no other league comes closer to this in the sport. IPL has been the most prominent T20 league in the world. Adding on, it also has been the toughest one. With every passing year, the addition of new players, and the failure of established players have shocked the fans. Along with every auction, there is a price tag of players that makes them famous overnight. Talking about the auctions and the players, the franchises have thrown up multiple surprises. Usually, these surprises come in the form of retention. Sometimes the gamble works, sometimes it doesn’t. Let us have a look at instances when the gamble did not pay off. Ranking top 10 worst player retentions in IPL history 10. Albie Morkel, DD Albie Morkel. (Photo Source: Facebook) Albie Morkel was a T20 specialist. For most of his IPL career, he was with the Chennai Super Kings. His captain, MS Dhoni used him as an opening bowler and a finisher. And Morkel played the role to perfection. Morkel was retained by the Delhi Daredevils, now known as Delhi Capitals. In the 2014 season, he played just seven games. With 45 runs under his belt and the highest score of 16, Morkel was completely out of form. Talking about his bowling, Morkel picked only 4 wickets. Although he bowled only 96 balls, his talent was not properly utilized by the franchise. This was bad retention as Morkel could have been used to his full extent at any other franchise. 9. Ben Hilfenhaus, CSK Ben Hilfenhaus. (Photo by Duif du Toit / Gallo Images/Getty Images) Just like Albie Morkel, Ben Hilfenhaus was a part of the CSK squad under MS Dhoni. He was a terrific performer for Australia. For CSK, he did well in the 2012 season. During that time, he picked 14 wickets in nine games. In 2014, he had a poor outing with the franchise. With the captain needing an overseas bowler to handle the initial overs, Ben failed. He was expensive and rarely got breakthroughs for his team. This added pressure on other bowlers as well. Ben picked 8 wickets in 8 games for CSK. With the economy rate being on the higher side (8.78), CSK’s decision of opting for Ben as a retained player seemed to backfire. With many other proven performers being available and released, the management could have opted for other options in the bowling department. 8. Axar Patel, KXIP Axar Patel. (Photo Source: Twitter) The 2018 IPL auction was an iconic one. With CSK and RR returning to the tournament, the BCCI had decided that there would be a mega auction. The teams were allowed to retain a maximum of three players. For Punjab, it was Axar Patel. Initially, it seems like they were looking at the future, by opting for younger players. But, the plan backfired. Axar played 9 games in the 2018 season. He scored just 80 runs with the highest score of 19. Adding on, he had a poor strike rate of 115.94. Talking about his bowling, he picked just 3 wickets in 9 games. Although he had a decent economy rate of 8.38, he was unable to make any impact with the ball. Axar’s ability was never utilized by his captain and management. 7. Ajinkya Rahane, RR Ajinkya Rahane. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Ajinkya Rahane was a part of the Rajasthan Royals squad for a long time. He opened for the Rajasthan-based franchise, captained them, and was a prolific batsman. Although he is not a big hitter, he was well known to anchor the innings for the Royals. Rahane was retained by the management in 2014. In 13 games, he managed to score 339 runs. But, his strike rate was not impressive by any means. Rahane was too slow for the format. Even though he was a decent player for RR, his performances were below average. In the shortest format of the game, one has to improve along with gaining experience. But, Rahane’s strike rate has been too slow even now. 6. Deepak Hooda, SRH Deepak Hooda of SRH plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter) Deepak Hooda made his debut in the lucrative league with the Rajasthan Royals. But, he gained success with the Sunrises. He was a part of the 2016 squad which went on to lift the trophy. Hooda, along with his ability to bowl part-time, is an asset for any squad. But, Hooda had poor outings with the bat in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In 2017, he managed to score only 78 runs. For the next year, he accumulated just 87 runs with a below-average strike rate of 107.40. He was retained by SRH after their maiden title victory, but his form dipped. Talking about his bowling, Hooda was expensive in 2017. With an economy rate of 10.50 and a wicket tally of just two, he failed as a bowler. 2018 was even worse for Hooda, as he was unable to pick a single wicket. Hence, he failed as a retained player for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. 5. Jayant Yadav, DD Jayant Yadav. (Photo Source: Facebook) During the 2016-2017 season. Jayant Yadav was a regular member of the Indian Test team. Adding on, he played some quality knocks along with Virat Kohli during the Test series against England. It looked like he had a bright career in front of him. But, the tides turned as the off-spinner had a disappointing season with the Delhi-based franchise. Yadav was retained for the 2017 season. During that edition, he played few games and was not successful. This affected the team’s chances of making an impact. This is not surprising because of the limited number of chances he got. If a bowler gets only six overs to bowl in a tournament, it clearly shows that the franchise is not interested in the player. Later on, he was traded to the Mumbai Indians where he was a part of the playing eleven in the final. 4. David Miller, KXIP David Miller. (Photo Source: Twitter) David Miller will be always remembered for his iconic ton against RCB. Within a year, he became one of the most important players for Punjab. Because of his solid performances in the 2013 season, he was retained ahead of the 2014 auctions. But, later on, things went downhill for the southpaw. In the following seasons, he scored a single half-century in 32 games. Well, this is a poor performance, especially in a tournament like the IPL. Adding on, his strike rate too, dipped. With a strike rate of just 118.03 across the four seasons, he was underperforming. He was again included in the Punjab squad, as he bagged a contract worth 3 crores in 2018. At last, he was released and now, he is a part of the Rajasthan Royals. 3. Stuart Binny, RR Stuart Binny. (Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS) Stuart Binney started his IPL career way back in 2010 for the Mumbai Indians. Later on, in 2011, he shifted to Rajasthan. But, it was in 2013, that he made an impact. An impact that enabled him to make it to the national squad. In 2013, Binny scored 293 runs with the bat and picked 6 wickets. He played a vital role as an all-rounder for the Royals as they finished third in the tournament. Because of his solid performances, Binny was retained by the Royals ahead of the 2014 season. But, this turned out to be bad for the all-rounder. In the 2014 and 2015 seasons, he managed to score 197 runs. Adding on, he picked up only 7 wickets with the ball. Later on in 2018 too, he failed to make an impact. 2. Pawan Negi, RCB Pawan Negi of Royal Challengers Bangalore plays a shot. (Photo: IANS) To be honest, this is a case of blunder that has been committed multiple times. Pawan Negi was a fantastic player for the Chennai Super Kings. But, it seems like every time he has been retained, he failed to perform as per the expectations. For RCB, he has performed poorly over the years, and this enables him to make it to the top two of this list. The Delhi Capitals purchased Negi in the 2016 IPL auction for a whopping INR 8.5 crore. However, due to a poor season, he was relegated to the auction pool. He was signed by RCB in 2017 and had a good season. The left-handed all-rounder scored nearly 130 runs per game and took 16 wickets in 12 games. Even when RCB used their RTM to buy back Negi during the 2018 mega auctions, things didn’t turn out to be well for the Bangalore-based franchise. During that season, he played just a couple of games for Bangalore. Even if this was not enough, they retained him for the 2019 season as well. 1. Sarfaraz Khan, RCB Sarfaraz Khan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Chris Gayle is one of the biggest names in the T20 circuit. The universe boss had dominated the IPL for many years along with RCB. But, nobody had expected the management to release a legend like Gayle. Their replacement for him was Sarfaraz Khan. Yes, it was one of the biggest blunders in the history of the tournament. The youngster was retained ahead of the likes of KL Rahul, Chris Gayle. Well, he had an impressive debut season in 2015. But, it was somehow an “out of this world” decision by the management. His form dipped and he scored just 51 runs with an average of 10.20. Adding on, he was released in the next season. There was no justification for releasing someone like Chris Gayle. Hence, this is the worst retention in the history of the tournament.

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Ranking top 10 worst player retentions in IPL history

Talking about the auctions and the players, the franchises have thrown up multiple surprises. Usually, these surprises come in the form of retention.

4. David Miller, KXIP

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