IPL market: Who’s hot and who’s not

CHENNAI: AS the deadline for the players retention nears, Mumbai Indians seem to be only franchise who is likely to retain three of its players for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) season. With the auction for next year’s edition slated for January 27 and 28, franchises have to put up the players they will retain on January 4. While Chennai Super Kings, who are returning to the fold after suspension, is certain to retain MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, they are also keeping their options open with regards to Ravindra Jadeja.

With this being a mega auction most of the franchises are keen to retain their brand, but at the same time are not too interested on retention policy as the right to match (RTM) card is available during the auction set to take place in Bengaluru. To make things more complicated for the franchises, in case a retained player wants more money than the quoted number under retention policy, then even that sum would be reduced from their cap of `80 crores to be used for the auction.

Express understands that Royal Challengers Bangalore are already facing an issue over this as India captain Virat Kohli has demanded around `20 crore in case the franchise wants to retain him. With them also interested in retaining AB de Villiers, it would mean they would enter the auction with only `51.5 crore if they retain both.

Rajasthan Royals, who like CSK is returning to the mix, is ready to build from scratch, but indications are that they will use RTM for Steve Smith, who is hot property. Likewise, they might also be tempted to use the RTMs on James Faulkner and Ajinkya Rahane, but any decision on it would also depend on the inputs of the support staff. It is understood that the franchise is trying to lure their only title-winning captain Shane Warne back to the fold as part of the support staff.

Similarly, Kings XI Punjab are also set to throw all their players back into the pool and might be interested only in Glenn Maxwell. In 2014, the franchise had retained South African David Miller and uncapped Indian player Manan Vohra, but the duo have not had considerable success and with Brad Hodge brought in as new head coach, there could be a new core group that the franchise wants to build the team around.

However it terms of surprise, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders have decided to part ways with captain Gautam Gambhir. The former India opener, took over from Sourav Ganguly in 2011 and has been the face of the franchise. But with the age not on his side, the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned team is again looking at fresh faces with Jamaican Andre Russell touted to be the only one likely to be retained. Though the franchise still seems to be interested in retaining chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, it would decrease their salary cap. They may also use RTM cards for Manish Pandey and Umesh Yadav.

Delhi Dardevils, close to appointing former Australian captain Ricky Ponting as head coach, is likely to keep only Shreyas Iyer. Sunrisers Hyderabad is also looking at retaining David Warner and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan while Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as options for RTM. It’s reliably learnt that the franchise is interested in bringing R Ashwin on board and the off-spinner might even captain them.

venkatakrishna@newindianxpress.com