The Indian cricket fans were yet to recover from the grief of their favourite team losing the ODI World Cup final at the hands of Australia when the rumour of Hardik Pandya being traded to Mumbai Indians for Indian Premier League 2024 attracted all the attention possible. The rumour sent a shockwave across the cricket community as to how could Gujarat Titans let go of a captain who led their team to a couple of IPL finals on the trot. However, the speculation was brought to a dramatic end when Titans announced their skipper’s retention for the 2024 season but another twist in the tale, a couple of hours later, confirmed his return to the Mumbai Indians’ setup through an all-cash trade.
Even though Hardik’s trade was the hottest topic of discussion on the 26th of November – the deadline to announce retentions for the upcoming IPL season, it was not the only trade that raised a lot of eyebrows. To free up the purse for Hardik, Mumbai decided to let go of their most expensive buy of Cameron Green as the Australian all-rounder was traded to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 17.5 Crores.
The releases, retentions and trades made by the IPL franchises reflected a lot of surprising decisions from the respective think tanks. Here is how the teams stack up ahead of the IPL auction on 19th December.
Chennai Super Kings
Like every season, Chennai Super Kings didn’t have any surprising releases. Ben Stokes’ release was always on the cards after the last season and his decision to pull out of the 2024 season buried the discussions. Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement after the previous season. Subsequently, CSK had more than INR 23 Crores added to their kitty with just a couple of player releases.
The big news, however, is that skipper MS Dhoni will be leading CSK again. The veteran went through knee surgery and was doubtful for the 2024 season.
Another notable release was that of Kyle Jamieson who was bought for his base price of INR 1 Crore last year but couldn’t feature in a single game due to an injury. His backup Sisanda Magala also finds himself on the wrong side of the retention list.
Players Released: Ambati Rayudu, Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorious, Bhagath Varma, Subhranshu Senapati, Akash Singh, Kyle Jamieson, Sisanda Magala
Players Retained: MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Chowdhary, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana
Purse Left: 31.4 CR
Gujarat Titans
Following Hardik Pandya’s trade, GT announced Shubman Gill as their skipper for the next season. The right-hander had a phenomenal season with the bat in 2023 and will take over the captaincy duties next year.
Notably, Shivam Mavi, who was bought by the franchise for a whopping INR 6 Crores last season has been left out. The pacer could not manage to find a place in the playing XI throughout the tournament.
Players Released: Alzarri Joseph, Odean Smith, Dasun Shanaka, Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan
Players Traded Out: Hardik Pandya
Players Retained: Shubman Gill (C), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma
Purse Left: 38.15 CR
Lucknow Super Giants:
KL Rahul’s LSG didn’t have a lot of surprising releases. Jaydev Unadkat failed to find a place in the playing XI consistently and has been rightly let go. Similarly, Australia’s Daniel Sams was released from the squad.
A major trade that involved LSG was that of Avesh Khan and Rajasthan Royals’ Devdutt Padikkal. Avesh was bought for INR 10 Crores by the Sanjeev Goenka-owned franchise in 2022 but this year, the pacer has been swapped with Padikkal.
Players Released: Daniel Sams, Karun Nair, Jaydev Unadkat, Manan Vohra, Karan Sharma, Suryansh Shedge, Swapnil Singh, Arpit Guleria
Players Traded Out: Avesh Khan
Players Traded In: Devdutt Padikkal
Players Retained: KL Rahul(C), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq
Purse Left: 13.15 CR
Mumbai Indians:
As aforementioned, Hardik Pandya and Cameron Green’s trade highlighted IPL 2024 retentions, but there were a few more interesting decisions from the MI management. Jofra Archer, who was entrusted for a couple of years has been left out owing to his persistent injuries. Apart from him, they have let go of the majority of their overseas pacers including Duan Janse, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith and Chris Jordan.
Notably, Hrithik Shokeen, who was given a consistent run in the team for back-to-back seasons has also been left out.
Players Released: Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier
Players Traded Out: Cameron Green
Player Traded In: Hardik Pandya, Romario Shepherd
Players Retained: Rohit Sharma(C), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff
Purse Left: 17.75 CR
Rajasthan Royals
The Royals have left out England’s Joe Root after his maiden IPL stint. Moreover, they have parted ways with Jason Holder and Oben McCoy. Barring Avesh Khan and Devdutt Padikkal’s trade, RR didn’t have too many eye-catching releases or trades.
Players Released: Joe Root, Abdul Basith, Jason Holder, Akash Vashisht, Kuldip Yadav, Obed McCoy, M Ashwin, KC Cariappa, KM Asif
Players Traded Out: Devdutt Pakdikkal
Players Traded In: Avesh Khan
Players Retained: Sanju Samson(C), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Prasidh Krishna
Purse Left: 14.5 CR
Royal Challengers Bangalore
After yet another season of disappointments, RCB decided to go for a flurry of releases, starting with their Director of Cricket Mike Hesson who has now been replaced by Mo Bobat. From their squad, RCB released Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga and Josh Hazlewood to free up their purse to afford Cameron Green’s trade worth INR 17.5 Crores.
Interestingly, the team has stuck with keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik for another season despite the batter returning dwindling results in the last season.
Players Released: Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Josh Hazlewood, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, David Willey, Wayne Parnell, Sonu Yadav, Avinash Singh, Siddharth Kaul, Kedar Jadhav
Players Traded Out: Shahbaz Ahmed
Players Traded In: Mayank Dagar, Cameron Green
Players Retained: Faf du Plessis(C), Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Vyshak Vijaykumar
Purse Left: 25.25 CR
Kolkata Knight Riders
In a rather surprising move, KKR have let go of their fast-bowling arsenal comprising Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, and Umesh Yadav. The Bangladeshi duo of Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan have also been left out of the squad.
Shreyas Iyer, who missed out on the 2023 season due to an injury will be back at the helm taking over the reins from Nitish Rana.
Players Released: Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur, Mandeep Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, N Jagadeesan, David Wiese, Aarya Desai, Litton Das, Johnson Charles, Shakib Al Hasan
Players Retained: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy
Purse Left: 32.7 CR
Punjab Kings
While there were several outcries due to the releases made by other teams, there was a sense of confusion among fans as PBKS decided to retain Sam Curran – the most expensive player in the history of IPL. The England all-rounder had a lukewarm season with the Kings and was expected to be released this time around.
Moreover, Shah Rukh Khan was among the surprising releases made by the team. The Tamil Nadu power hitter will now enter the auction as a hot commodity.
Players Released: Shahrukh Khan, Raj Bawa, Baltej Dhanda, Mohit Rathee, Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Players Retained: Shikhar Dhawan(C), Jitesh Sharma, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Bhatia
Purse Left: 29.1 CR
Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals, despite having one of the strongest batting sides in the tournament, finished ninth in the points table. Subsequently, they have made a lot of releases from the squad. Rovman Powell and Mustafizur Rahman were some of the surprising leftouts.
Prithvi Shaw, who hasn’t been able to let the ball rolling in IPL for a couple of seasons now was expected to be released, but the team management has decided to stick with him for another year at least.
Players Released: Rilee Rossouw, Chetan Sakariya, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Phil Salt, Mustafizur Rahman, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Priyam Garg
Players Retained: Rishabh Pant(C), David Warner, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
Purse Left: 28.95 CR
Sunrisers Hyderabad
No cricket expert expected SRH to finish with a wooden spoon last season given the kind of team they had. But the disastrous results have now forced the side to make quite a few changes to their squad.
Harry Brook, who was bought for over INR 13 Crores was expected to be released after scoring nearly 180 runs in the tournament. Barring him, Adil Rashid and Kartik Tyagi were some of the major releases.
Players Released: Harry Brook, Adil Rashid, Akeal Hosein, Karthik Tyagi, Vivrant Sharma, Samarth Vyas
Players Traded Out: Mayank Dagar
Players Traded In: Shahbaz Ahmed
Players Retained: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande
Purse Left: 34 CR
The auction for the next season will take place on the 19th of December at the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai. This will be the first time that the IPL auction will be held overseas. Notably, the trading window will be open till the 12th of December even though no major trades are expected to take place.
