IPL 2020: 3 surprising player retentions before the auction
The 13th of the Indian Premier League is edging closer with only four months left for the cricket extravaganza to return to the country's best stadiums. As the countdown begins for the tournament, each franchise is preparing to build the best possible team to help them achieve glory. With the auction scheduled on 19th December 2019, teams were required to submit the list of released players on November 15. Even the transfer window which saw some big names like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajiyanka Rahane, and Trent Boult traded ended on the same day.
After weeks of speculation, the list of players who will continue to play for the same franchise as last season is confirmed as well those who will need to enter the auction pool to find a new team.
The release of players like Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, David Miller among many has caught the headlines. Here we take a look at a few players who have surprisingly been retained by their franchise and contrary to expectation will not need to enter the auction.
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#3 Mohammed Siraj- RCB
One of IPL's most surprising facts to day remains that the Royal Challengers Bangalore has not won a single title so far. Despite having the likes of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers in their roaster, the franchise is yet to lift the trophy. One of the biggest reasons behind their underperformances is attributed to having a lacklustre bowling attack.
Over the last few years, one of their biggest letdowns in the bowling attack has been Mohammed Siraj. The right-arm pacer from Hyderabad has been regarded as one of India's brightest emerging fast bowlers. He has shown his talents in the longer formats with an extremely impressive First Class record of 125 wickets in 29 matches at an average of 21.33.
However, he hasn't shown the same potential on the big stage in the shorter formats. The 25-year-old has been at RCB for three years and has flattered to deceive in the time. He has featured in 26 games and only 28 wickets at a very high economy rate of 9.20. In fact, with time, his performances have only got worse with last season being his worst in the Red and Gold shirt. He only took seven wickets in nine games and his economy rate was a very expensive 9.55 rpo.
Despite the consistent backing from the club, Siraj has not proved himself a reliable bowler at all for Virat Kohli. With Navdeep Saini emerging as a dependent front-line pacer and the presence of Umesh Yadav, one would probably feel they are well-decked when it comes to Indian pacers.
In addition to the fact that Siraj was bought for ₹2.8 crore, letting him go and investing on another player or trying to buy him for a cheaper price would have been a wise idea.