Indian Premier League: Players who their Franchises should have retained

Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants have had outstanding inaugural seasons, while Rajasthan Royals have done admirably well to reverse their fortune.

Some teams, namely Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, have struggled in the tournament's early rounds. 

Before the 2022 mega auction, each team was given the option of keeping up to four players from the 2021 roster. It was undoubtedly difficult for the teams to select their first-choice players, but some of them made mistakes by failing to get the services of those who had helped them win numerous matches in previous seasons.

There are many such names but let's have a look at four such players who deserved to be retained:

Yuzvendra Chahal

Rajasthan Royals purchased Chahal for a whopping INR 6.50 crore. His previous club, RCB, kept three of their players from the last edition of the tournament, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, and Glenn Maxwell, but decided not to keep the right-arm leg-break bowler, which was quite shocking for the 2022 edition.

Chahal had a successful season with RCB in the IPL 2021, then a difficult one with his national team. In 15 matches, he took 18 wickets at an economy rate of 8.12. Chahal has improved Rajasthan Royals' spin bowling unit this season alongside Ravichandran Ashwin. He now holds the Purple Cap and has 18 wickets in eight matches at an impressive economy rate of 7.09.

RCB, this season is fielding Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva, a Sri Lankan leg-break spinner. But it would have been better if they had gone with Yuzvendra Chahal, as he is an Indian bowler who would have allowed them one more overseas option.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik, the Indian finisher and a wicket-keeper, has spent 18 years in and around the Indian cricket team. Karthik revealed his clear objectives of being selected for the national side for the forthcoming T20 World Cup in Australia while displaying his prime to the world during IPL 2022.

Karthik, who captained the team from 2018 to 2020, was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the IPL 2022 season. Karthik was bought for INR 5.50 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore. It is his first IPL season in which he is playing as a wicket-keeper batter for RCB. With a half-century, he has 216 runs at a tremendous strike rate of 198.17.

The Indian hitter is proving to be a complete match-winner for RCB as he's single-handedly leading the franchise to wins and taking the weight of the entire middle order upon himself. Dinesh is shadowing the flaws of the Bangalore-based franchise's top order with his breathtaking performance.

Trent Boult

The left-handed bowler from New Zealand is playing for Rajasthan Royals and giving his all on the field. Trent Boult, released by his former team Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2022 season, has taken seven wickets in seven matches this year, with an economy rate of 8.5. The Kiwi pacer was purchased by RR for a staggering INR 8.0 crore.

During IPL 2020, Boult had a flashy run with MI, picking up a vast 25 wickets at an economy rate of 7.96. He took 13 wickets in 14 matches in the IPL 2021, with an economy rate of 8.15.

Mumbai Indians must regret thinking that they didn't have Boult as the destructive duo of Boult-Bumrah was a nightmare for opposing teams, and they had to remain cautious throughout their eight overs. Bolt was a crucial player for MI and was one of the key players responsible for their success in the 2019 and 2020 campaigns of IPL. 

MI is currently last in the points table and virtually the first team out of the tournament; however, the scenes would have been entirely different if Boult was in their line-up, as they are majorly missing a bowler like him.

Hardik Pandya

Mumbai had brought in an uncapped player from Baroda in 2015, and he gradually developed into an essential member of the team that won the IPL title that year and in 2019 and 2020. 

The Indian all-rounder who had poor IPL 2021 was not retained by Mumbai Indians, which was a tough call for them as they had to choose only four out of their squad of 11, which was full of match winners and was without any doubt the best team in league history. Instead, the champion franchise opted for Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, and Jasprit Bumrah.

Hardik was selected as one of Gujarat Titans' three draft picks and designated their skipper late, so Mumbai did not even have the opportunity to make a bid to repurchase him. Hardik is in excellent form this season as he has scored 295 runs in 6 matches; he has played and performed with the ball as he has four wickets with a decent economy of 7.5.