IPL 2019: 5 released players who could be expensive buys at the auction
All speculations about who is going to be retained and who is going to released ended on November 15th when the final lists of players retained and released were rolled out by the IPL teams.
While most of the names in both the lists were on expected lines, there were a few surprises as well. Also, some players, who were expected to be released, were retained by the teams. Players like Kieron Pollard, Manish Pandey, Harbhajan Singh, who did not have a particularly good season in IPL 11, were persisted by their respective teams.
However, everything is not lost for players who are released. Most of the released players will register themselves at the auction and with the kind of quality that they possess; they are set to earn big bucks.
There have been instances in the past where players who fizzled out playing for one franchise shined while playing for the other. The prime example of which is Shane Watson, who had a torrid time with RCB but came back next year with a stellar season for CSK. Australian players like Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins might not be available for the entire season and thus might not attract too many bidders.
Here is a look at 5 of the released players who can earn big bucks at the auction.
#5 Axar Patel
Axar Patel will consider himself to be extremely unlucky to be left out of Kings XI Punjab squad for the next IPL. Patel has been a crucial cog in KXIP's machine over the years.
The all-rounder was tantalisingly close to cementing a place in India's ODI side before he was sidelined due to injuries and indifferent form. The rise of other spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav did not help his cause either.
However, Patel is a useful T20 cricketer. While his bowling is tailor made for shorter formats, he is a vastly improved batsman. If Patel can maintain his fitness and form, he can be valuable to any IPL team.