Venkatesh Iyer

The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder was impressive in his debut season for the Kolkata Knight Riders. This performance paved the way for his team India selection as well. At the same time, KKR surprised many by not retaining the likes of Shubman Gill, who has all-format potential for India, or the explosive Rahul Tripathi, who got the KKR to the finals this year. While Iyer himself isn’t a bad bet, given his all-round skills, one does feel that Shubman is coming-of-age and can really be a revelation in years to come.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal is the only uncapped player in the Rajasthan Royals retention, the other two being Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler. The youngster showed a lot of promise during the IPL 2021 after a poor debut season last year, but with an overall average of 24.9 this time, albeit at an impressive strike rate, is a bit of a gamble.

If looking at youngsters, Chetan Sakariya and Kartik Tyagi showed plenty of promise, and if budget allowed, Mustafizur Rahman or Chris Morris could’ve also been backed. While they will have the option of getting some players back with more money in the bank, Jaiswal can be viewed as a dicey option, given that he has little experience.

Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has been in top touch for Punjab Kings but his selection, at a whopping INR 12 Cr, seems a bit inspired by the fact that KL Rahul will not be available with the Punjab franchise in the next season. If he’s being groomed as the next man to lead the setup, they also had an option in Nicholas Pooran, who was also let go.

M Shahrukh Khan could’ve been one of the younger players they could’ve looked to develop. Another cheaper option that could have been considered among Indian players is Deepak Hooda, who performed well in SMAT 2021/22, and can be a destructive player on his day.

Umran Malik

There is no doubt that Umran Malik is a special player. But have the Sunrisers Hyderabad gone a bit early for him? He’s still raw in many ways, and can be wayward on occasions. That raw pace is special, but fast bowlers of his age have a propensity to get injured if they tend to over-exert themselves. Time will tell what happens next, but SRH have left a number of experienced players like David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Jason Holder, who will undoubtedly garner a number of buyers next year.

Given the fact they will be without Rashid Khan, they could’ve tried to keep an experienced spinner but chose otherwise.

MS Dhoni

Not as much of a surprise as a mystery. There was an understanding that MS Dhoni will be a part of the Chennai Super Kings setup, but no one was sure in what capacity till the retention list was announced. With ‘Captain Cool‘ in the setup yet again, CSK might be looking to build for the future under his guidance, but there’s no doubt that his cricketing abilities aren’t the same anymore.

They could’ve tried to keep him in as a ‘mentor’ which could’ve paved the way for the retention of someone like a Faf du Plessis, if they were looking for experience.