The eight existing Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises revealed their retention list. A total of 27 players were retained by the franchises ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. With two new teams coming into the fray, the auction is expected to be one of the best in history.
As the teams plan to build a team for the next four-five years, they have focused on having young talents rather than having well-known cricketers, who are approaching the dawn of their cricketing career.
On that note, let’s take a look at 3 legendary cricketers who might go unsold in IPL 2022 auction.
#3. Imran Tahir
The South African leg-spinner was part of the winning team of the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021. While he has served Chennai to the best of his ability, the veteran looked slightly off-colours in the last season.
Incidentally, Tahir landed in the IPL sphere in 2014 when he was snared by Delhi Daredevils (now known as Delhi capitals). After a couple of successful seasons, he joined CSK in 2018 where he became one of MS Dhoni’s trump cards.
Overall, he has played 59 matches and has 82 wickets to his name. Tahir enjoyed a stellar run in IPL 2019 when won the Purple Cap picking up 26 wickets in 17 matches taking his team CSK to the finals of the IPL 2019. However, CSK lost to Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians by 1 run.
Tahir, who is currently 42 and played only 3 matches across the 2 IPL seasons is unlikely to get a team in the next season with teams looking to build a squad for the next 5 years.
#2. Chris Gayle
The self-proclaimed Universe Boss has been part of IPL since 2009. He was part of Kolkata Knight Riders for 2 seasons and was released before the 2011 auction and he went unsold in the auction. However, he was called midseason by RCB to replace injured Dirk Nannes and since then Gayle hasn’t looked back.
Gayle kickstarted his IPL 2011 campaign on a blazing note again his previous team Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens where he scored 102 runs off 55 balls. The southpaw played important role in his team RCB reaching the IPL finals in 2011; however, RCB lost the finals by 58 runs.
Gayle was awarded the MVP award and the Orange Cap for his 608 runs and 8 wickets that season. The West Indian continued his run-scoring spree and won the Orange Cap in the 2012 season as well. However, age has had a burning impact on his game and Gayle has not been in the best of touches in the last couple of years on a consistent basis.
It would be difficult for him to get a buyer this time around given he is 42 years old considering that he had only one bidder last time around. Gayle, who will go down as one of the T20 legends, has played 142 matches in IPL scoring 4965 runs including six centuries.
#1. Suresh Raina
Mr. IPL is the fourth-highest run-scorer with 5528 runs in the history of the tournament. Along with MS Dhoni, Raina has been at the heart of Chennai Super Kings since its inception.
However, the southpaw has lost the touch with limited cricket at his disposal after retiring from international cricket. IPL 2021 was his worst year in terms of number where he managed only 160 runs from 12 matches with the highest score of 54.
With teams relying more on youngsters, it is likely that Suresh Raina will be unsold if CSK doesn’t bid for him in the auction.
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