Since news of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 may see a mega auction before the tournament begins in the proposed window of April to May 2021, a lot of speculations about few players being retained while some may have to leave are doing the rounds.
Now whether to conduct the mega auction or to stick with the status quo until 2022, the decision for the same may be taken by the BCCI in December. There are also reports that a ninth team might be included in IPL 2021.
In such a scenario, there will be many players who will be part of the auction pool and many teams will look to free some of their players. Which players might be released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2021 edition? Here is a potential list of players from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.
SRH, DC and KKR’s potential list
Shreevats Goswami was the frontline wicketkeeper for the India U19 team that emerged victorious in the 2008 World Cup. However, his 29 IPL appearances over thirteen years are proof that over the years, Goswami was a backup wicketkeeper. Being with SRH too, he was only brought in after Jonny Bairstow's poor form and Wriddhiman Saha getting injured. His performance did not make much of an impact and his future with SRH looks bleak.
Bavanaka Sandeep may also follow suit with Goswami. He may be an unknown name for most IPL fans, but this batting allrounder, who represents Hyderabad in the domestic circuit, was the highest run-scorer during the 2017-2018 Ranji trophy season. However, his IPL career is totally different. Especially with the inclusion of Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep’s future seems unpredictable with the SRH.
With it comes to DC, there are quite a few players the team can give off as the side sure has a lot of strong cricketers to its side. Veteran Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane has been around in the league ever since its inception and has scored 3931 runs in 139 innings.
However, he has never been a T20 specialist throughout his career. He used to perform consistently at the top of the order every year but this time, he failed to play the anchor role. With the Shikhar Dhawan-Marcus Stoinis partnership working out, Delhi could consider it as a viable long term option.
Prithvi Shaw is also one player who could see his way out of DC. The talented Mumbai batsman, playing his third season this time, scored 826 runs in 38 innings. After a couple of decent seasons before this one, Shaw was expected to make it big, however, Shaw was just a shadow of himself this season. He scored just 228 runs in 13 innings.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders are a side that is loaded with the strongest overseas players. However, still, they have failed to make an impression.
Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav was once a vital cog of KKR's bowling attack, but he has now fallen down and found himself warming the bench for the most part of IPL 2020. Kuldeep managed to play only 5 games and picked up only 1 wicket in what was a forgetful season for the Chinaman spinner. He seems to have run out of favour with the arrival of Varun Chakravarthy and KKR may let him go ahead of the new season.
Tim Seifert is another player who could be sent off. The New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman was roped in as a replacement for USA pacer Ali Khan, who himself was a replacement for injured Harry Gurney. Seifert did not make the cut into the playing XI and with a maximum of only 8 players allowed in a squad, Seifert might be released by KKR.
