IPL 2021: 5 players SRH should release ahead of the auction

#3 Fabian Allen (IPL 2020)

Fabian Allen is unlikely to be part of SRH's playing XI based on their current strategy.

Jamaican all-rounder Fabian Allen was roped in for INR 50 lakh in the 2020 IPL auction, potentially as a backup to Mohammad Nabi in that position. Predictably given the strength of SRH's foreign contingent, Allen did not get a game and is very unlikely to do so next year either.

Though his international batting numbers are quite unremarkable, with low averages and a T20I strike rate under 117, Allen has a decent record in T20s overall. Someone who is a handy finger-spinner along with being a clean striker of the ball, he made news when he missed his flight to be ruled out of the Caribbean Premier League 2020. Going by his recent performances, he may not have a flight to catch for IPL 2021.

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#2 Billy Stanlake (IPL 2018-2020)

Billy Stanlake was ruled out due to injury in 2018 and never featured for SRH again.

Someone who has been around but hardly gotten IPL games, 26-year old Queenslander Billy Stanlake, would find himself unlucky to be behind in the pecking order. SRH's strategy over the last three years hardly allows them to play an overseas seamer, thus worsening Stanlake's plight.

Although his IPL returns aren't too bad - an economy rate of 8.33 and seven wickets from six games - franchises tend to be incredibly discretionary when choosing foreign seamers. The two-metre tall pacer hasn't done enough outside the IPL to demand starting XI selection, and SRH would be better off searching elsewhere. The emergence of Jason Holder, too, seems to have firmly shut the door on Stanlake's chances at SRH.

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#1 Khaleel Ahmed (IPL 2018-2020)

SRH seems to have moved on from Khaleel, particularly if Bhuvneshwar remains fit.

A disastrous IPL debut game in 2018 was all that Rajasthan pacer Khaleel Ahmed got, but it was a roaring 2019 season - 19 wickets from 9 games at a strike rate of just 11 - that ensured Khaleel remained on the national selectors' minds. With T Natarajan's emergence, Khaleel's stocks as a left-arm pace option have dipped both internationally and in his IPL team.

Eight wickets from seven games hardly scream for attention in an SRH team filled with Indian capped bowling talent. An IPL career economy that is just shy of 9 also does not make his case particularly strong. SRH can afford to let Khaleel go for a better-performing Indian pacer, which might also allow the tall seamer more opportunities.