The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League sees the return of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings taking the places of Rising Pune Supergiant and Sunrisers Hyderabad whose two-year contracts come to an end this year. The auctions this time will be a comprehensive one with all players being technically out in the market and the franchises are supposed to submit a list of players they want to retain by January 4.
Over the years, players like MS Dhoni, AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli have come to define the sides they represent. Thus far, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have made their intentions clear but the rest of the sides
What has been confirmed so far?
Chennai Super Kings: It is no surprise when Dhoni was retained alongwith Suresh Raina by the Chennai Super Kings. The franchise stated that it is yet to decide who the third Indian player will be with the Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being the two options.
Mumbai Indians: The defending champions have also made their intentions clear and will retain skipper Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya as their capped Indian players. They would also he retaining Krunal Pandya as their uncapped Indian player. Royal Challengers Bangalore announced that they have appointed Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten as their bowling and batting coaches respectively.
What is the speculation?
Delhi Daredevils are reported to have decided that Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant will be retained. David Warner has been indispensable to the Sunrisers Hyderabad alongwith Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan and one can expect the 2016 champions to include them in their list. Steve Smith is reportedly a first priority for the Rajasthan Royals.
