IPL 2019: 5 uncapped players franchises should not have released

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has provided a spectacular platform for young uncapped cricketers in the last decade or so. Playing in front of big crowds alongside some International stalwarts of the game was something most of these youngsters would’ve dreamt of, but the IPL made it a reality.

Virat Kohli in his early days in the IPL played under the guidance of Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori and Rahul Dravid whilst Rohit shared the dressing room with legends like Herschelle Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Shahid Afridi. Both these Indian cricketers have come a long way in the last eleven seasons and all the influence of the great men mentioned above certainly had a big impact in shaping their careers.

This is the exact reason why IPL has been hailed as the greatest T20 tournament in the world and is one step ahead of all its nearest competitors. With the auction set to commence in a fortnight’s time, franchises have already submitted the set of retained and released players. Whilst some of their choices were appreciated, releasing a few young cricketers back into the auction didn’t seem plausible for the pundits.

Here are five uncapped stars who were unfortunate to be released by their franchises ahead of IPL 2019 auction.

1. Shahbaz Nadeem (Delhi Daredevils)

Shahbaz Nadeem has been a decent performer at this level for a long time, but never really made his presence felt with consistent big performances. He alongside Abhishek Sharma and Vijay Shankar were traded by Delhi to Sunrisers Hyderabad to accommodate Shikhar Dhawan, a move which raised a lot of eyebrows as Nadeem had a stellar campaign in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The slow left-arm bowler registered the best List A cricket figures of all time a few months ago and is in the form of his life. To have shipped him off to a side who only had one loophole (a quality Indian spinner was something the SRH lacked) alongside two other cricketers seemed a pretty bad trade for them and a good one for the Hyderabad franchise. But given Dhawan can perform well, the deal will be worth every penny.