The eleventh edition of the Indian premier league was flagged off last evening, when all eight franchises announced their respective lists of retained players before the IPL auction.
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While most of the retentions went along the expected lines, there were a couple of startling names that caught everyone by surprise.
RCB’s retention of Sarfaraz Khan was the most surprising one of all, as not many would have expected the youngster to still remain with the Bengaluru outfit.
Since RCB had to use up a significant chunk of their purse in retaining both Kohli and ABD, the franchise had to find a way to save some money for the all important auction in a few weeks from now.
With Sarfaraz being an uncapped player, RCB managed to save 4 crores by retaining him, which could now be used in bringing back the likes of KL Rahul and Yuzi Chahal in the auction.
The return of CSK was eagerly anticipated, as the former champions came back to IPL after serving a two year ban from the league.
CSK decided to bring back the old core, as they retained MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja. The fans were ecstatic at these retentions, as all three were fan favourites during their time with the franchise.
After the news broke out, Suresh Raina came on Twitter to express his joy and happiness in re-signing with the franchise.
Raina was one of the pillars of the previous CSK side, as the graceful left hander was the fulcrum around which the rest of batting line up was built around.
An IPL and CSK legend, Raina, fondly called as ‘Chinnathala’, will be eager to put on the yellow jersey once again and light up the IPL this year.
In this video, we can see Raina signing his CSK documents in front of his millions of fans.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE :
