IPL 2022: 3 Players who deserved bigger deals in the retentions

On Tuesday, the Indian Premier League (IPL) went into a massive revamp. All eight teams announced the list of players retained for the next season. There were some massive surprises in almost all the list of eight teams.

Franchises have not kept players who were an integral part until the last season. Some of the uncapped and less experienced players have seen a massive jump in their salaries. Also, some of the most dominant names in this format have been left out.

Due to four retentions and the unavailability of the Right to Match card, the teams made several tough decisions. Certain players would have received a bit more salary if they were in the auction pool. Some players, who have done massive work for the franchises in the past, might not have received what they deserve in IPL 2022.

Here are three players who deserved more than they got in the IPL retentions

1. Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine is the synonym of Kolkata Knight Riders. One can not imagine him in any other dress apart from gold and purple. Hence, it was obvious that he would be a part of the retention list.

When KKR’s list came out, Narine was there but in the last position below Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer. KKR has retained Narine for a price of six crores. Until last season, his salary was INR 12.5 crores.

Narine was the second leading wicket-taker for KKR in the 2021 season and finished with 16 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.44. The tweaker is no longer part of the West Indies’ setup, and he might not play many games before IPL 2022. It might be the reason KKR gave him the fourth slot in the retention list.

2. Anrich Nortje

IPL is home to some of the most exciting stories, and Anrich Nortje is a character of one such story. In 2018, KKR picked Nortje for his base price, but, the pacer could not play a game after sustaining an injury. In 2020, KKR released him from the squad, and he found no buyer.

After IPL got shifted to UAE in 2020, Nortje was called up by Delhi Capitals to replace Chris Woakes. Nortje, along with Kagiso Rabada, made one of the most formidable pace attacks in the tournament. The duo picked over 50 wickets among themselves.

Cut to the retention for IPL 2022, Delhi had to choose one between Nortje and Rabada. The team went in with Nortje and dropped Rabada. Delhi Capitals has retained Nortje for a price of INR 6.5 crores, which might not be justified considering his talent.

3. Prithvi Shaw

After Delhi Capitals was done with the battle of Nortje vs Rabada, the team was presented with another. This time it was a tussle between Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan was in the best form ever since he made a comeback to Delhi’s franchise, and Shaw scored plenty of runs while opening.

At last, the Capitals went in with Shaw for a price of INR 7.5 crores. Shaw has made 1305 runs in 53 matches for the Capitals at an average of 24.62 and a strike rate of 146.3. He was the second-highest run-scorer for the Capitals in the last season.

The Capitals picked Shaw in the 2018 auction for a price of INR 1.2 crores. However, all eight teams will run after openers in the mega auction. Shaw, who has a reputation for striking the ball right from the word go, might have earned a lot more than what he is getting.

Written by Ankit Anand