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On Tuesday, 15th November, Indian Premier League’s retention list was out. Every franchises plays in the league announced their players’ list who got retained and who got released. There were some shocking name in this list. The fans didn’t expect to see some names in the retention list but some franchises decided to include them.
Unexpected players who got retained ahead of the IPL 2023 mini auction:
1. Vijay Shankar: The Indian cricket team batter Vijay Shankar wasn’t expected to be retained by Gujarat Titans as his previous season’s performance was not good. At the start of the IPL 2022, Vijay Shankar got selected in the Gujarat Titans’ playing XI but after his poor performance with the bat, the management decided to remove him.
2. David Willey: The English pacer got retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the IPL 2023 mini auction. Willey didn’t play much games in the previous season with RCB but still the franchise is backing him and didn’t release him.
3. Venkatesh Iyer: Despite having a very bad season (IPL 2022), Indian opener got retained by KKR. The opening batter didn’t have a great time with the bat in IPL 2022 and also couldn’t play much games for Indian team after that. KKR franchise believes in backing players and thus Venkatesh Iyer’s name has been in their retention list.
4. Arjun Tendulkar: Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar was bought for 20 lacs by Mumbai Indians in the last season’s mega auction. However, Arjun didn’t play a single game for the franchise but still his name is been displayed in the Mumbai Indians’ retention list.