IPL 2014 Auctions: Retention report card of all teams

Phase I of pre-IPL preparations is over. The retention list of each team is out with full details, and now it’s time to look forward to the auctions.

But before all that are these retained players really worthy of their place in the team, is a question to ponder. Would there have been better players who could have been retained?

This article is an analysis into that, into the various positives and the negatives of the players retained by every team this year.

Chennai Super Kings

Players Retained: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo (FIVE)

Bravo will keep dancing in CSK colours!

Consistency in playing good cricket and consistency in retaining players in the squad are two major reasons why one of the most successful teams of the IPL remains this successful. Consistency has been associated with this team from the very first season.

Out of these 5 players retained, MSD, Raina and Ashwin have been with CSK since IPL I. These five are easily the best ones that can be retained by the franchise, although questions exist as to who could have been the other choices for retention.

While there was not much doubt about the retention of MSD, Raina and to an extent Jadeja too, the impact that Ashwin will have this season is quite doubtful. He is no more the bag of tricks he once was as a new sensation. He can be very expensive and inconsistent at times. However, he remains the crowd’s favourite as Chennai’s own boy.

In the galaxy of all-rounders that CSK possess, Dwayne Bravo was the best one to be retained. There were Albie Morkel, Faf du Plessis and Chris Morris who stood as strong contenders for this spot, but Bravo’s wonderful death bowling and power hitting makes him the best choice there.

Rating based on retention: 4.5/5

Delhi Daredevils

Players retained: None (ZERO)

DD will have a completely new team

From how badly they performed last season, this decision was much expected that DD would retain none, or just one player from their previous squad. Individually, they had many match winners in the team like David Warner, Virender Sehwag, Morne Morkel, Johan Botha etc., but they never were able to perform as a single unit.

Only Umesh Yadav, David Warner and Mahela Jayawardena had a fair IPL 6 season, playing consistently throughout their disastrous season.

Though doubts remain as to whether certain players like Warner or Morkel could be retained, not retaining everyone and rebuilding a new team altogether seems quite fair too.

Just like how Kolkata Knight Riders started their season back in 2011, completely afresh with a new set of players, DD should also look to now start from the scratch, looking for a new team that could get together to do well this season.

Rating based on retention: 4/5

Kings XI Punjab

Players retained: David Miller and Manan Vohra (TWO)

The surprise package Manan Vohra

Probably the first shock among many to come this season, the retention of the young, inexperienced Vohra was a debatable decision by the Kings XI.

Whilst they also kept on being in the lower portion of the table and fluctuated up and down last season with some good as well as bad performances, David Miller stunned many who watched him from becoming the mainstay of the KXIP line up from someone who was a second choice at the start of the season. After having a good 2013 too, for a team that needed inspiration driven by new faces, David Miller was the only one who was worthwhile to be retained.

Manan Vohra, not so famous outside Punjab, could have been bought back from the auction roster without having to let go Rs. 4 crore from the auction purse. Still, he has the support of Yuvraj Singh, who believes Vohra is a talent to look out for. Besides this selection, everything else looks good for them. They have two right-to-match cards, and they can put it to good use if it comes of any help for them.

Rating based on retention: 2.5/5

Kolkata Knight Riders

Players Retained: Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine (TWO)

Both Gambhir and Narine will remain with KKR

Two of the best performers of KKR in the past three seasons were Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine. They deserved to be retained. KKR started three seasons ago as one of the strongest teams on paper, after wise decisions taken during auction made them form a very good squad. For the most part of these three years, they lived up to their billing, even managing to win one season.

Gautam Gambhir has led from the front, as a captain, playing many wonderful match-winning knocks and has been the perfect example for other batsmen in the team. In the same way, Sunil Narine has been the nightmare for all opposition batsmen, often conceding even lesser than 5 runs an over, which effectively reduces the number of over the opposition team has to attack from 20 to 16.

Other than these two, players like Eoin Morgan, Jacques Kallis and Laxmipathy Balaji have performed well on particular occasions but none of them stand a chance at being retained for the next three seasons.

Rating based on retention: 4/5

Mumbai Indians

Players Retained: Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu (FIVE)

Harbhajan Singh, one of the players retained by MI

Mumbai Indians have done the wise thing by retaining their last season’s stand-in captain and best performer Rohit Sharma as he looks to be the man of the moment, enjoying a successful 2013-14 season and looks like he is at his best right now. Malinga and Pollard are tailor made for T20, and they deserve to be a part of the retained five.

The doubt however arises on the impact that Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu can have as retained players.

It was a predicted test between Dinesh Karthik and Rayudu for retention. Although Ambati Rayadu has shown to be more consistent, the more experienced DK, who can play shots all over the ground and has a very good wicket keeping ability, could have been picked over Rayudu.

Also, Harbhajan Singh no more is first choice in the Indian team, although he could prove to be a better player in Indian T20 conditions. But this meant that MI had to let go of Mitchell Johnson who now they have to pick up at the auction using their only right to match card.

If this was done for Harbhajan instead, probably the team could have saved some money. Even Dwayne Smith was an integral part of the team last year, and it remains to see whether MI picks him back at the auction.

Rating based on retention: 3/5

Rajasthan Royals

Players Retained: Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Ajinkya Rahane, James Faulkner (FIVE)

Sanju Samson, the youngest to be retained

Rajasthan Royals were by far the most improved team amongst all the IPL teams last season. Gelled together by the presence and captaincy of the veteran Rahul Dravid, the whole team performed well, with each member of the XI contributing equally that the best five for retention among these could have not been easily named.

Shane Watson and Stuart Binny were the perfect all-rounders for RR. They batted well, bowled economically, picking up wickets at the right time and also fielded very well. There is absolutely no way the team would have performed this well if not for both these players.

Ajinkya Rahane was the perfect opening support for Rahul Dravid and will remain so to any opener who bats with him. Calm and composed, shots down the ground, and ability to play a long innings makes Rahane one of the best opening batsmen in T20 cricket.

James Faulkner last season proved to be RR’s trump card, performing exceedingly well every match to be one of the highest wicket takers in the previous season. His consistency and good pace makes him one of the five retained players in this RR setup.

Last but not the least, Sanju Samson, the youngest to be retained, was definitely a star for RR. In the Champions League T20, he played some wonderful innings under pressure which won the confidence of Dravid, who played him for every match after that.

These are the top five that could be retained by the team in any case. Although a few others like Kevon Cooper, Brad Hodge and Siddharth Trivedi did do a good job, they were not as worthy as the retained five. However, one of these above players could easily be bought back using the right-to-match card.

Rating based on retention: 4.5/5

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Players Retained: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers (THREE)

Kohli and Gayle will keep playing for RCB

The big three are here. No other team could imagine retaining three batsmen of such impact. One who whacks everything in the beginning of the innings, the second who whacks everything in the middle overs and the third who whacks everything at the end.

There could be no better trio that could be retained by this team. The skipper, the ever dominant Gayle, who can effectively throw down a few balls too and the ever consistent de Villiers who can make a good bad look bad with the variety of shots he can play.

A few other effective performers for this team were Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul and Murali Kartik who managed having a few good games, but while the strength of the RCB team remained as their batting, retaining those three is the best choice ever.

Among all those teams that retained players, these three would have been bid for a huger amount than how much is spent on retaining them, thus this being a very wise choice on the part of RCB management to retain Kohli, de Villiers and Gayle.

Rating based on retention: 4.5/5

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Players Retained: Shikhar Dhawan and Dale Steyn (TWO)

Dhawan will be with SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad was the new face of the last season, and were the team that put up a very tough showing and have quite a successful season, from being a bottom placed team as the Deccan Chargers previously. Main reasons for this success were players like Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn and Karan Sharma, which justifies why the first two were retained.

All through the tournament, they struggled a lot, unable to score huge runs and always managing to script a win in the final tense moments of their game. Their game plan was always to restrict the opposition team to a small score and try and chase that down.

Uncapped Indians, Karan Sharma and Hanuma Vihari contributed a lot to the team by their consistent, often match winning performances while a few like Darren Sammy and Ishant Sharma had their moments too.

However, Dhawan, returning to play after an injury and Steyn, as usual firing at his best were the stand out performers of the team and deserved to be retained among all.

Rating based on retention: 4/5