IPL retention day concluded on Tuesday with plenty of drama and shocking names that were released by their respective franchises. All the 10 IPL teams were due to submit their final list of retained players to BCCI, there were some surprising picks who were retained and some big names who were left out.
Mumbai Indians parted ways with Kieron Pollard, however, he rejoins the franchise as their batting coach, while Chennai Super Kings (CSK) also released long-serving all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
Sunrisers Hyderabad however dropped the biggest bombshell as they opted to release their captain Kane Williamson whom they had retained last year for Rs 14 crore. The New Zealand captain has not had a good time with the bat of late, with question marks over his scoring rate, and the manner in which SRH finished eighth in IPL 2022, despite winning the first five games, left the franchise with a lot of homework to do.
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Alongside Kane, Punjab Kings' former captain Mayank Agarwal was also the joint-most expensive player not retained by his franchise, as the Indian opener couldn't help his side to the playoffs. PBKS finished sixth in the league standings last term, while the 31-year-old could only muster up 196 runs in 13 outings. Thus, the 2014 IPL runners-up have decided to part ways with Agarwal, instead handing over the captaincy to Shikhar Dhawan.
SRH came up with another massive surprise as they released Nicholas Pooran as well, who was bought in last year's mega auction for a whopping Rs 10.75 cr. He subsequently became the most-expensive West Indies player ever at the IPL auction but failed to live up to the hype.
The fourth-most expensive player released ahead of the auction was Jason Holder, who was purchased for Rs 8.75 cr by Lucknow Super Giants.
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Another West Indian cricketer who was released by their franchise was Romario Shepherd, who was let go by SRH. The Orange Army had roped him in during IPL 2022 mega auction but he failed to justify his price tag of Rs 7.75 crore.
