IPL 2018 Retentions: Hits and Misses
The 2018 IPL retention, where franchises get to choose a maximum of three players to retain for the 11th season of the Indian Premier League, took place in Mumbai on the 4th of January with the event catching a lot of attention on social media.
There were some much-expected decisions made by franchises in retaining players amidst a few surprises. MS Dhoni continues to be yellow on Chennai Super Kings' return while Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers resume their friendship at Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rajasthan Royals retained Steven Smith while Sunrisers Hyderabad stuck to David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the purple cap holder of the previous edition. Mumbai Indians got one step closer to retaining their core group of players with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya continuing in the franchise while Suresh Raina is still with Chennai Super Kings. However, amidst all these regular, anticipated picks there was a slew of surprises and here we discuss those hits and misses from the IPL retention.
Miss - Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
The wily West Indian mystery spinner was retained over Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn by the Kolkata based franchise and this evoked a bit of surprise given that he hasn't been at his very best in recent times. Narine is undoubtedly tailor-made for this format but his recent form suggests that Kolkata should probably have gone another way.
In 2017, the West Indian opened the innings a few times and found considerable success but with the ball, he picked up a mere 10 wickets in 16 matches at an average greater than 40. Having retained Andre Russell as well, Kolkata now go into the auction without having the luxury to use their Right to Match Card (RTM) on a foreign player. (Only two foreigners can be retained/gained via RTM)