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IPL 2020: 5 players who could be released and bought back by their teams

Mumbai Indians celebrate winning IPL 2019.
Mumbai Indians celebrate winning IPL 2019.

The Indian Premier League auction is one of the most popular cricketing events in the world. It has the ability to attract millions of viewers with ease, and it is an event that cricketer looks forward to. Every young player wants to make it to the IPL and it is understable, given the size and magnitude of the tournament when compared to other global sporting events.

The auction for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place on the 19th of December in Kolkata. The trade window will close on November 14. All the franchises will have an extra ₹3 crore to spend in addition to what they had after the end of last season's auction. Delhi Capitals will have the biggest balance, while Royal Challengers Bangalore will have the least amount of money.

The auction is all about mind-games and tactics and without them it will be difficult to build a title winning team. Each and every rupee spent at the auction counts and teams will be looking to spend a large portion of their purse on players who will deliver for them in majority of the games.

There are quite a few over-paid players in the current IPL squads who could possibly restrict the team from picking up other expensive players. Teams could play it smart by releasing them before buying them back for a lower amount at the auction.

Here, we shall have a look at five players who could find themselves facing such a situation when the auction comes around.


#5 Varun Chakravarthy

Varun Chakravarthy in action for Kings XI Punjab.
Varun Chakravarthy in action for Kings XI Punjab.

Varun Chakravarthy came into the 2019 IPL season on the back of a splendid campaign with Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He also had a great Tamil Nadu Premier League and in both the tournaments, he was simply outstanding with his variations. He was expected to form a dangerous spin trio with Mujeeb ur Rahman and Ravichandran Ashwin. However, none of that came to fruition as he played just one game.

On his debut, he was taken apart for 24 runs in his first over by Sunil Narine. It wasn't a great move by Ashwin to bowl him to Sunil Narine, who loves taking on the spinners. Chakravarthy did redeem himself by picking up a wicket and conceding just 11 runs in his next two overs. After that game he was injured and ruled out of the tournament.

The mystery spinner was bought for a jaw-dropping ₹8.4 crore last season and KXIP might not be willing to retain him for the same amount. They could instead release him back into the auction. He might not garner the same interest this time around and his price probably won't go beyond ₹4 crore. Chakravarthy could still prove to be a good enough player and this move will also help them strengthen other areas of their squad.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule

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