IPL 2022: CSK retain Dhoni, Morgan released by KKR

Delhi Capitals have retained Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje

Ahead of the mega Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in December, all eight franchises revealed the list of their retained players on Tuesday.

Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions, have retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad while five-time champions Mumbai Indians have decided to keep Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard in their squad.

And the Delhi Capitals have retained Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje.

Virat Kohli, who decided to step down as the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain after the 2021 season, has been retained by the franchise along with Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj.

Remarkably, the Kolkata Knight Riders decided against retaining Eoin Morgan who led the team to a runners-up finish in 2021 despite his poor form with the bat.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals have retained two Indians and one overseas player in the form of their influential skipper Sanju Samson, uncapped Yashasvi Jaiswal, along with England’s talismanic star Jos Buttler.

Having appointed Samson as their leader before the 2021 season, the Royals have chosen the mercurial batter as the first retained player, with INR 14 million coming off their purse.

Meanwhile, the Royals’ second retained player is the 50-over World Cup winning Englishman Buttler, who is considered by many as the best T20I batter in the world currently. His superlative performances for both the Royals and England have stood out over the years.

Jaiswal, 19, becomes the second youngest player ever to be retained across all IPL teams, with the youngest being Samson, who was retained at the age of 19 years and 2 months by the franchise in 2014.

Jaiswal was bought by the Royals in the 2020 Auction and has since played 13 matches in all, impressing with a tally of 249 runs in 10 games at a strike rate of 148.21 in IPL 2021.

The franchise has decided to back his potential as an explosive top order batter which sees the confident looking left-hander being retained as the third player by the Royals.

“It is a very satisfying reward for the hard work that I’ve put in over the past couple of seasons. To have the backing of the franchise – the owner, coaches and management - is a huge motivating factor for me, and I can’t wait to repay the faith that has been shown in me. To be in a team which is known to hone and give opportunities to young talent, I couldn’t be happier and excited for what is to come,” expressed an emotional Jaiswal.