5 big players who might not be retained by their IPL franchises

The prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) has completed its 10 years and with the auction for the next season set to take place in nearly a month's time, it's that time of the year when the franchises will be deeply indulged in strategizing. The governing council has allowed the teams to retain a maximum of 5 players and the remaining bunch will go in the pool.

While the franchises will look to hold on to their key players to retain the core of the side, it is also the time to let go of some of the big players who haven't lived up to the expectations. Each time, before the auctions, we have witnessed some of the big names not being retained by the teams and this year could be no different.

Let's take a look at the 5 big names who could go into the auction unretained

#1 Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, a national hero who won 3 World Cups for India, a warrior who fought cancer and still made a comeback to international cricket. He is definitely the one any youngster might look up to for inspiration. But has he had the same kind of impact in the Indian Premier League? The answer, sadly, is no.

If we sit down and remember the best performances in the past 10 years of IPL, we might look at Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers but Yuvraj doesn't have too many knocks to be included in this elite list.

In every auction, he makes the headlines and gets picked by different franchises at a hefty price but unfortunately, ends up being left out of the side later. After moving from Kings XI Punjab to Pune Warriors India and then to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, he was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

But his numbers for SRH haven't been too encouraging. In the last 2 seasons, he has managed to score 236 and 252 runs respectively while the skipper David Warner has produced runs in heaps. There are chances that the Punjab-lad could be left high and dry yet again.

#2 Lasith Malinga

There is no denying the fact that Lasith Malinga has been an absolute giant of a player in the Indian Premier League. Ever since he joined Mumbai Indians, he has made a huge impact on the side. Whenever you talk about the best bowlers in the history of IPL, the Sri Lankan maestro's names will be right up there. His 154 wickets put him on top of the chart of the most wickets in the league.

But it's evident that the slinger, in the past couple of years, has lost the kind of zeal he used to have at his peak. Where he was the leading wicket-taker for the franchise in 2015 with 24 scalps, he accounted for just 11 wickets in 2017. There is an evident decline in his pace and the batsmen have started to pick him better. The fact that Mumbai Indians won the league despite Malinga not being at his best makes a strong case for him to be dropped.

#3 Kane Williamson

Talk about the best batsmen in the modern era and it goes without saying that Kane Williamson is a certainty to be considered. And as far as the shortest format of the game is concerned, he is presently No.4 in the ICC rankings for the T20I batsmen. But do we look at him in the same manner when it comes to the Indian Premier League?

To be fair to him, the 4 overseas players rule hasn't let him feature regularly in the playing XI for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In 2016, he played just 6 games in which he scored 124 runs and in 2017, he represented the team in 7 games and accumulated 256 runs at an average of 42.67.

The performance in the last edition was impressive given he returned with a great average. SRH might want to keep him in the squad but they might not look to spend a whopping amount on him to retain as one of the 5 players and so, if he is in contention, he might be picked up from the auction at a lesser price.

#4 Glenn Maxwell

When the T20 cricket was invented, it was believed to be the format for the batsmen like Glenn Maxwell who could decimate the opposition with lusty blows. Over the years, he has been able to do that as well. The right-hander along with David Miller took the league by storm in 2014 when the franchise finished as the runners-up.

But the next 3 years have been rather forgettable for Maxwell. He has accounted for just 145, 179 and 310 runs in the next 3 seasons respectively. These are not the numbers you expect from someone like Maxwell. The added pressure of the captaincy in 2017 got to him and with the side performing poorly, he struggled massively. Kings XI have a tendency of changing the squad every now and then and it will be interesting to see whether Maxwell will be in contention or not.

#5 Angelo Mathews

The Sri Lankan team has had a woeful time in the recent years as they have lost most of their games across the formats. Angelo Mathews has been in the thick of things and he left the captaincy after the side lost to Zimbabwe at home in the ODI series. There has been a huge pressure on him being the experienced player in the side. Although he has delivered on occasions but hasn't been able to bail the side out of trouble.

In the IPL, he has never been a huge name and very seldom did he produce a match-winning performance. In 2015, he scored just 144 runs from 10 matches and bagged 7 wickets. In the last edition, the right-hander just played just 2 games and managed only 32 runs. Where he used to be a frontline seamer, is only a support bowler these days. Hence, he doesn't produce a strong case to be retained.

Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and Instagram