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Now that all teams have locked their core group of players, let’s have a look at the top five surprise releases by the franchises:
Siraj to Arshdeep – List of 5 most surprising releases
After brainstorming for months, all 10 franchises revealed their retained list with no dearth of surprises. Five teams have let go of their captains, showing faith in inexperienced and uncapped players. The list of released players is long with many names that have raised quite a few eyebrows with their relase.
Now that all teams have locked their core group of players, let’s have a look at the top five surprise releases by the franchises:
Mohammed Siraj (RCB): The right-arm pacer is a seasoned campaigner and recently became a World Champion. He even ended IPL 2024 as RCB’s second-highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps. However, RCB decided to release him and keep a left-arm quick instead, Yash Dayal. RCB has retained only three players, namely Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Dayal.
Rishabh Pant (DC): In what came as a bold move, the Delhi Capitals have released Rishabh Pant ahead of the mega auctions. As per reports, many in the DC set-up are not convinced about his T20 game. It wasn’t that they wanted to let him go, but they were clear that they didn’t see him leading the side.
Shreyas Iyer (KKR): The most surprising release of all is KKR letting go of their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai batter ended the title drought of Kolkata Knight Riders, winning the trophy after 12 years. Yet he was released. Speaking about retentions, KKR CEO Venky Mysore said the think tank had some difficult decisions to make because they had more players to retain than they were allowed.
Arshdeep Singh (PBKS): Punjab Kings’ retention list is the shortest one, including just uncapped players in Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. The most surprising factor is the release of Arshdeep Singh who has been with Punjab since his debut in 2019. The World Cup-winning fast bowler was released on Thursday. He has played 65 matches and taken 76 wickets, including a five-wicket haul.
KL Rahul (LSG): Another skipper released by his franchise is KL Rahul. There has been speculation about him parting ways with the franchise, especially after the animated encounter between him and team owner Sanjeev Goenka last season. Despite reports claiming that all was well between them, the two have now parted ways. According to PTI, Rahul has been released following his poor strike rate in the last three years. Additionally, his aggregate of 520 runs didn’t help the team qualify.
