IPL 2020 Auction: One surprise retention made by each team

#7 Kings XI Punjab - Sarfaraz Khan

Sarfaraz Khan

Retained players: KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mohammed Shami, Nicholas Pooran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Hardus Viljoen, Darshan Nalkande, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, and Murugan Ashwin

The 22-year old youngster, Sarfaraz Khan, who hails from Mumbai was one of Kings XI Punjab's cheapest buys in the auction in 2019. He was bought for an auction price of INR 25 lakhs. Punjab were struggling for a decent middle-order Indian batsman who could hold the innings together and believed Sarfaraz would do the job for the side.

However, despite beginning well in the season, his performances took a major dive as the tournament went along. The Mumbai batsman could only muster 180 runs in 8 innings and was dropped during the later stages of the league. His ouster from the playing XI suggested Punjab would be looking for other players who could don a similar role.

However, Kings XI yet again retained Khan for IPL 2020, which doesn't provide any clarity over the middle-order spot in their team. His retention is a major surprise and more so when some of the finest Indian batsmen are waiting in wings for an opportunity.

#6 Kolkata Knight Riders - Kamlesh Nagarkoti

The world will have its eyes pinned on Nagarkoti

Retained players: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Shivam Mavi

One of India's young and rising stars, Kamlesh Nagarkoti grabbed eyeballs with his express quick bowling in India's U-19 World Cup-winning campaign in 2018 in New Zealand.

Considering his menacing pace and the extra zip in his bowling, he was bought by KKR in the 2018 IPL auction for INR 3 Cr. The fast bowler from Rajasthan who was believed to wreak havoc with his ability to bowl quick, Nagarkoti, soon hit an injury streak after he was ruled out from IPL 2018.

However, failing to recover from his injury, he couldn't return to fitness in time even for the next season. Despite missing two editions on the trot, KKR have interestingly retained Nagarkoti yet again for IPL 2020.

He is expected to be fit and make his debut next year in the IPL. However, he will be short on any match time given he hasn't played any competitive cricket since February 2018. This will be a huge risk from KKR, making him play in a league that demands accuracy from the word go.