IPL Auctions 2014: Five retentions that should not have happened

4. Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu

The Mumbai Indians have retained the maximum number of players (5) they could have. They have shown a lot of faith in their players which is only natural since they were the winners last time around, and they would definitely like to leave the winning combination undisturbed as much as possible.

That said, they could have gone with the obvious retentions of Malinga, Pollard, and skipper Rohit Sharma and opted for fresh faces from the pool of uncapped players at the auction. They have instead shown immense faith in Rayudu. Agreed that he has been a successful campaigner for the Mumbai Indians with the bat and behind the stumps as well, but considering that names like Mitchell Johnson and Dinesh Karthik have been omitted, his retention seems to lack any reason. Both of them have more experience of international cricket than him.

Mumbai probably decided to stick with him since he has been there since the third season, or the fact that, they don’t want their team changed much. One could argue that the franchise might have become attached to their players, which should not be the case in a competitive league. Trying out new players or just having more joker cards at their disposal might have been a better move on their part.