Fact2Folks

Current Australia skipper Steve Smith was Rajasthan Royals’ only pick while his deputy David Warner remains with Sunrisers Hyderabad along with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “It was a great opportunity to retain some players. We want to pick impact players who can take team forward. Warner and Bhuvaneshwar are impact players and impact is the right word for SRH,” team mentor VVS Laxman said after the retention process got over. One of the notable names not to be retained is long-time Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir, who is now back in the auction pool with West Indians Sunil Narine and Andre Russell being the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise’s two picks. CSK have retained their powerhouse performers Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina as their second and third choice respectively.

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League sees the return of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings taking the places of Rising Pune Supergiant and Sunrisers Hyderabad whose two-year contracts come to an end this year. The auctions this time will be a comprehensive one with all players being technically out in the market and the franchises are supposed to submit a list of players they want to retain by January 4. Over the years, players like MS Dhoni, AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli have come to define the sides they represent. Thus far, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have made their intentions clear but the rest of the sides