IPL 2018: 5 potential Right to Match candidates to watch out for

The coverage for the next edition of the cash-rich league began with the announcement of the player retention lists by the respective franchises on Thursday. A total of 18 players were retained by the 8 teams participating in the 2018 edition. With the social media going crazy over the decisions of the franchises the focus now shifts on to the IPL Auction to be held on 27th and 28th January in Bengaluru.

While some retentions were obvious, there were some surprise retentions too, like that of Sarfaraz Khan by RCB and Ravindra Jadeja by CSK. Also, there were many big names who did not make it to the list, making them potential candidates to be retained by the respective teams through Right To Match cards at the auction.

The teams who have retained 3 players, now are left with 2 RTMs and those who have retained up to 2 players are left with 3 RTMs that can be used during the player auction.

#1 Gautam Gambhir

Kolkata Knight Riders not retaining Gautam Gambhir has been one of the biggest surprises of the pre-auction retentions. Gambhir has been one of the mainstays of the Kolkata based franchise. After playing for Delhi Daredevils in the first three seasons, he was bought by KKR in the 2011 edition at a whopping price of $2.4 million. He was the most expensive players in the auction that year.

Gambhir paid his price back by captaining the team to two title wins in 2012 and 2014 respectively. He changed the fortunes of the KKR team which had failed to finish in the top half of the points table in the first three seasons.

In the seven seasons that he has played for KKR, he has scored 3035 runs in 138 matches. With the experience that he carries, he will be one of the most sought-after options in the auctions and KKR must look to snap him up using Right to Match card.