Defending champions Mumbai Indians is all set to retain their skipper Rohit Sharma along with Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal, while Delhi Daredevils may keep under-performing Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer in their stable ahead of the IPL auction on January 27.
While the last date of submission for the player retention is January 4, the franchises are more or less certain about the kind of cricketers they would like to retain and the ones they would buy back with Right To Match (RTM) cards.
Talking about the scenarios, a senior BCCI official said, “Skipper Rohit Sharma is an automatic retention having led the team to three IPL titles. Hardik Pandya is one of the big match-winners and the interesting third retention would be Krunal Pandya. Krunal being an uncapped Indian can be retained for only Rs 3 crore instead of Rs 7 crore for the third capped player. Also, Krunal was an exceptional performer last year.”
It has also been learned that it is an important decision to retain Krunal as this will enable the franchise to buy back Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah with the ‘Right To Match’ cards. The BCCI official also said, “MI has been the biggest advocate of five retentions. These five are their core group of match winners and it will be surprising if they deviate from this strategy.”
It is learned that Delhi is still uncertain about having two or three retentions but Pant and Iyer being India players are certain to be retained. The official elaborated, “If you retain two capped players, you spend Rs 21 crore (Rs 12.5 crore for Player 1 and Rs 8.5 for Player 2) instead of Rs 33 crore for three capped players (Rs 15 crore for Player 1, Rs 11 crore for Player 2 and Rs 7 crore for Player 3).”
Steve Smith is expected to be retained by Rajasthan Royals after having spent two years at the Rising Pune Supergiants.
The Chennai Super Kings are set to retain three of their marquee players — captain MS Dhoni, IPL superstar Suresh Raina and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja while Dwayne Bravo, if fit, is all but certain to be bought back with Right To Match card.
David Warner is also expected to be retained by the Sunrisers Hyderabad who can also retain the immensely talented Deepak Hooda by paying INR 3 crore for the uncapped player just like MI will be doing for Krunal.
