Which players will be retained by each team for the IPL 2018?

I am writing this sparkling topic in my second blog. This is a big debate going on that who to retain and who not to retain. And we are the "Fans of Cricket" basically think emotionally not rationally. Its good that there are 5 players retention policy in this coming IPL auction. Because every IPL team has their fan base connection and identity, popularity according to their players. It should be MS dhoni for CSK, Rohit Sharma for MI, Virat Kohli for RCB and like that.

So this time every IPL team can retain at most 5 players through direct retention or RTM (Right to Match) Cards. This is broken into 3+2 combination. Either you can do 3 direct retention + 2 RTM cards or 2 direct retention + 3 RTM cards. No more than 3 in each category. It means if any team retains only 1 player, they still can use at most 3 RTM cards.

Costs of Retention:

• If only 1 player is retained, the Franchise has to play 12.5 Cr.
• If 2 players are retained, it will cost 21 Cr (1st Player - 12.5 Cr & 2nd Player - 8.5 Cr).
• If 3 players are retained, it will cost 33 Cr (1st Player - 15 Cr, 2nd Player - 11 Cr & 3rd Player - 7 Cr).

Overall Budget - 80 Cr.

Now lets try and find that who could retain. Its completely my point of view in this blog, this may or may not match others' point of view. Let's start with Kolkata team, one of the most fascinating team of IPL and from where I belong to.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS :

I think Kolkata will not retain Gautam Gambhir this time. Because he is not the long term prospect for the team. They will go for 2+3 combination.

Retention: 

1. Manish Pandey
2. Sunil Narine

RTM:

1. Kuldeep Yadav
2. Andre Russel or Nathan Coulter-Nile
3. Umesh Yadav or Chris Linn

MUMBAI INDIANS:

Easiest team to choose players for retention. They should go for 3+2 combination.

Retention: 

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Jasprit Bumrah
3. Hardik Pandya

RTM:

1. Krunal Pandya
2. Kieron Pollard

They may pick Harbhajan Singh & Lasith Malinga from the auction.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE :

Tough to choose for this team. I think RCB will go 3+2 combination.

Retention: 

1. Virat Kohli
2. AB de Villiers
3. Yuzvendra Chahal

RTM:

1. Samuel Badree
2. KL Rahul or Sarfaraz Khan

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD :

Another team easy to choose players for retention. They may go for 2+3 combination.

Retention: 

1. David Warner
2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

RTM:

1. Shikhar Dhawan
2. Rashid Khan
3. Moises Henriques

KINGS XI PUNJAB :

I think they will go for 2+3 combination.

Retention: 

1. David Miller
2. Axar Patel

RTM:

1. Wriddhiman Saha
2. Glenn Maxwell
3. Murali Vijay

DELHI DAREDEVILS :

They renowned for not retention players. Always they want to start fresh. This year also they may do the same. Moreover, Gautam Gambhir shows interest to play for DD. Still, if I think they should go for at least 1+3 combination. 

Retention: 

1. Chis Morris

RTM:

1. Quinton de Kock or Rishav Pant
2. Shreyas Iyer
3. Pat Cummins

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS :

There will be no surprise for this team's retention. But the main challenge is for the RTM cards. They have lots of options.

Retention: 

1. MS Dhoni
2. Ravichandran Ashwin
3. Suresh Raina

RTM:

1. Dwayne Bravo
2. Ravindra Jadeja or Brendon McCullum or Dyane Smith

RAJASTHAN ROYALS :

This team is the most unfortunate team this time. They don't have much players' pool from where they can retain. Because most of the player of this team didn't played for Gujrat Lions or Pune SuperGiants. Still they can go for 1+2 combination.

Retention: 

1. Ajinkya Rahane

RTM:

1. Steve Smith
2. James Faulkner

They may choose Rahane to lead their side. Rahane has a very impressive IPL record as a RR player and he is a good aggressive leader.

Now let's see what will happen. Thanks for reading my blog! Comment on this blog and that will encourage me to write more topics.

Cheers!!

:)