IPL 2023 Retention: 4 Players Who Were Lucky Not To Be Released Despite Performing Poorly In The Last Season. The IPL 2023 auction is slated to take place in Kochi on 23rd December 2022. This highly anticipated event is expected to see close to 600 players trying their luck in the auction pool. Before the auction, 85 players were released and 163 were retained by all the 10 franchises together. Every franchise has formulated its plans and strategies they need to adopt for the event.
For that, they released a few star players to save some money so that they could invest in utility players in the auction. On the contrary, there were also some players, who were fortunate enough to be retained despite their dismal performance in the 15th edition of IPL organized last year. Let us look at the top 4 players, who were lucky not to be released by the franchise.
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VENKATESH IYER
Venkatesh Iyer became a sensation when he scored more than 300 runs in the last 10 matches of the IPL 2021 for KKR. He was praised for his consistent performance with the bat. Iyer also chipped in with his medium-pace bowling and was touted to be the next Kapil Dev for India. But, things changed upside down for Venkatesh Iyer in the IPL 2022, as he scored just 182 runs in 12 innings.
He was also not effective with the ball, leaking runs at an economy rate of 11.40 runs per over. But, the KKR team management has still shown faith in him and has retained him before IPL 2023 auction.
VARUN CHAKRAVARTHY
Varun Chakravarthy was once considered to be a mystery spinner in the T20 format. His performance in IPL 2021 was amazing as he picked up 19 wickets. He was even selected for the Indian team ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. But, his IPL 2022 performance was a disaster.
Varun Chakravarthy picked up just 6 wickets in 11 matches and conceded runs at an economy of 8.5. He will surely feel lucky not to be among the list of released players before the IPL 2023 auction.
SIDDHARTH KAUL
Siddharth Kaul is one of the players who has consistently failed at the IPL or has not got enough opportunity but has been retained. In the previous season, he got to play just a single game for RCB. Before that in 2021, he played in 8 matches for SRH and managed to pick up only 7 wickets.
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Siddharth Kaul was brought by RCB in the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 75 lakh. Seeing that he got only a game to play, hardly anyone thought that he would be retained. But, the team management has shown faith in him.
SHAHRUKH KHAN
Shahrukh Khan would have found himself extremely lucky that he was not released ahead of the IPL 2023 auction. His prize money of Rs 9 crore was too much for the taking. The dynamic aggressive batter did not live up to the expectations and scored a poultry 117 runs in 8 matches last season.
Seeing his performance, hardly anyone would have thought that he will be retained at such a high price. But, it seems the PBKS team management still feels him valuable.
