IPL Auction 2020: 4 released players who will not take part in the auction

The Auction for the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League is just a few weeks away and the cricket fraternity awaits the event with utmost excitement. All the eight teams had declared their respective retained players’ list on 15th November. While a lot of expected names were present on that list, there were some surprises for the fans as well.

Kolkata Knight Riders raised a lot of eyebrows by releasing the trio of Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla and Chris Lynn. Besides, Royal Challengers Bangalore surprised as well by releasing 12 players from their previous season’s squad.

Apart from that, there were also a few players whom the franchises released because they were not eligible to take part in IPL 2020. Some players have also opted out of the event because of personal reasons.

Here is the list of the 4 released players who will not be a part of the IPL auction.

Also see – World Test Championship points table

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#4 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh had played for 6 IPL franchises

Yuvraj Singh had called a day on his international career earlier this year. Yuvraj had been the nation’s best all-rounder for a long time, playing an integral role in the Men in Blue’s 2011 World Cup triumph.

After his retirement, the Punjab-born all-rounder got a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from BCCI and he became a part of the foreign T20 leagues. As per the rules of the BCCI, a player has to bid adieu to the Indian team and IPL to play in other T20 competitions hence, this certificate makes Yuvraj ineligible to feature in the IPL auction.

He had played for Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 Canada tournament while the left-handed batsman was in good form while playing for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League.

#3 Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan has received a one-year ban from competitive cricket

The Bangladeshi all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan made a name for himself with his brilliance in both, the batting and the bowling departments. Because of his talent, Shakib had become the leading representative of Bangladesh in the IPL.

The left-handed batsman had played 63 IPL matches, aggregating 746 runs at an average of 21.31. He had a strike rate of 126.65 while the Jessore-born player has also registered two half-centuries. With his left-arm spin, the 32-year-old had scalped 59 wickets at a strike rate of 22.50, and an economy rate of 7.46, whereas his best bowling figures were 3/17.

Shakib had even lifted the IPL trophy when he was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014 before switching to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018. However, reports emerged recently that bookies had approached him during the IPL but he did not inform the anti-corruption unit about the same.

Hence, the ICC banned him from competitive cricket for a year, ruling him out of IPL 2020. The Hyderabad-based franchise had no other option but to release him from the squad before the auction.

#2 Liam Livingstone

Liam Livingstone has decided against taking part in IPL 2020

The English all-rounder, Liam Livingstone had made his IPL debut playing for the Rajasthan Royals last year. The right-handed batsman played 4 matches for the inaugural IPL winners where he scored 71 runs at a decent average of 23.66. His strike rate of 147.91 proved that the Englishman possessed some special talent.

The Cumberland-born batsman can even bowl leg-spin but, Rajasthan had not used him in the bowling department much. Livingstone bowled just a single over in IPL 2019, conceding 13 runs with no wickets.

He made his debut for England in June 2017 however, he could not cement his place in the team. The 26-year-old played 2 T20Is and scored just 16 runs at an average of 8.00. Thus, with an aim of returning to the English side, he has opted out of the 2020 edition of IPL.

The former Rajasthan Royals player will instead play in the County Championship and try to gain the selectors’ attention by performing well. For the record, Livingstone has played 81 T20s in his career, aggregating close to 2,000 runs. He has scored 1 century and 9 fifties in this format.

#1 Rasikh Salam

Rasikh Salam had made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2019

Mumbai Indians had surprised the cricket universe by signing Jammu and Kashmir’s upcoming pacer, Rasikh Salam in the previous IPL auction. The defending champions had snapped the youngster up at a price of ₹20 Lakhs.

Irfan Pathan had first spotted the talent possessed by Salam as he was the mentor of the state’s Ranji team in 2018. He played only one match for Mumbai Indians, where he conceded 42 runs in his 4 overs. Playing against the Delhi Capitals, the youngster could not keep a check on the run flow against the opposition’s big hitters.

Despite his disappointing debut, the selectors had picked him in the Indian U-19 team. However, reports then emerged that he had submitted a faulty birth certificate to the national cricket governing body.

Thus, BCCI handed him a ban of 2 years prior to the Indian U-19 team’s tri-series in England. Because of this ban, the team management of the Mumbai-based IPL franchise had to end their association with the south Kashmir-based youngster.