Two of the most successful Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, CSK and MI have rolled out their retention and released players lists ahead of IPL 2023 mini-auction. CSK have retained Ravindra Jadeja and Mumbai Indians have released Kieron Pollard in major developments.
Though the bridges between Ravindra Jadeja and CSK seemed to have been burnt, the all-rounder is set to represent them in IPL 2023. Skipper MS Dhoni was adamant about keeping Jaddu, and that may have been the reason for his shock retention.
Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have made an unemotional decision and got rid of Pollard. Caribbean all-rounder Kieron Pollard was the longest-serving player for MI and represented them in 13 seasons since 2010. He played a huge part in their 5 title wins, scoring 3412 runs at a strike-rate of almost 150.
However, 35-year-old Pollard had a horror outing last season. The big-hitter looked out of sorts and could manage just 144 runs off 11 matches (SR 107).
Mumbai Indians release 5 players, CSK get rid of 4
MI have released five players in total. Tymal Mills, Fabian Allen, Hrithik Shokeen, and Mayank Markande will accompany Pollard into the auction pool. Though Mills deserves the axe after a poor IPL 2022, the other 3 have been thrown out without getting opportunities.
Tim David (186 runs, SR 216 and 16 sixes) finds himself on the list of 10 players retained. Mumbai Indians will expect him to don the finishing hat that Kieron Pollard used to in the last decade or so. The other players retained by MI are Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Verma and Daniel Sams.
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Dhoni-led Chennai have also backed their core despite a forgettable outing (4 wins, 10 losses) last season. In total, nine CSK players have been retained: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Mukesh Chowdhary, Dwayne Pretorius, Moeen Ali and Deepak Chahar.
England pacer Chris Jordan, Tamil Nadu batsman N. Jagdeeshan, NZ tweaker Mitchell Santner and his compatriot Milne have all been released by the Chennai Super Kings camp and will look for a new home.