IPL Retention Day: Venkatesh Iyer, Bishnoi, Akash Deep, Maxwell set to face the axe

Mini-auctions are not typically seen as the time to press the reset button or for a full-fledged overhaul in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and franchises generally rely on a few guiding parameters. Chief among them are supply versus demand and performance versus price, the lenses through which the teams primarily assess players ahead of a mini-auction.

And going by that established practice, it is unlikely that too many big names (costly buys of last season) will bite the dust on Retention Day. Only Venkatesh Iyer seems to fit that template as of Friday (November 14), 24 hours ahead of the deadline, with Kolkata Knight Riders reportedly contemplating parting with their costliest purchase from the mega auction in Jeddah.

All others from the top 15 buys at the 2024 mega event in Jeddah - Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore), Shreyas Iyer (Rs 26.75 crore), Arshdeep Singh (Rs 18 crore), Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 18 crore), Jos Buttler (Rs 15.75 crore), KL Rahul (Rs 14 crore), Trent Boult (Rs 12.5 crore), Jofra Archer (Rs 12.5 crore), Josh Hazlewood (Rs 12.5 crore), Mohammed Siraj (Rs 12.25 crore), Mitchell Starc (Rs 11.75 crore), Phil Salt (Rs 11.50 crore), Ishan Kishan (Rs 11.25 crore), and Marcus Stoinis (Rs 11 crore) seem safe as of now.

Venkatesh Iyer was the third-most expensive player last year at Rs 23.75 crore, and his meagre returns - just 142 runs from 11 games - hardly made sense of the heavy investment. The Knight Riders have traditionally valued the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder, who played a key role in their previous successful campaigns. There remains a possibility that the three-time champions and one-time finalists will attempt to buy him back. For now, Venkatesh has been marked for release.

A few others like Quinton de Kock (Rs 3.6 crore) and Anrich Nortje (Rs 6.5 crore) are also marked for release like Iyer. The Knight Riders are likely to enter the mini-auction with a purse of about Rs 35-40 crore (including the annual Rs 5 crore purse increase) and that should give them enough funds to make a serious push for Cameron Green, a player believed to be in hot demand among franchises this time around.

Contrary to speculation, the Knight Riders will retain Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1.5 crore), their revered yet unassuming captain, who was, incidentally, their highest scorer last season (390 runs at a strike rate close to 150). The franchise had held negotiations with Delhi Capitals for a potential trade of KL Rahul and had the deal materialised, Rahul would, perhaps, have taken over the captaincy. However, the talks fell through after one of DC's two owners put his foot down. For now, Rahane remains their captain.

Yet another costly player of last season, Heinrich Klaasen, a Rs 23 crore retention by SunRisers Hyderabad, is set to be retained. As of Friday, there is no information of the South African being shown the door although he had a modest season with 487 runs from 13 games. The franchise seems to have trust in the 34-year-old former World No 1 T20 batter. SRH, meanwhile, have completed a one-way all-cash trade with Lucknow SuperGiants for Mohammed Shami, as first reported by Cricbuzz on November 13.

Shami (Rs 10 crore) will be one of the two acquisitions through trade by the SuperGiants, the other being Arjun Tendulkar, as also first reported by this website on November 12. The franchise has traded Shardul Thakur to Mumbai Indians and has, however, decided to retain Mayank Yadav, India's fastest bowler but one with a very fragile physical frame. The 23-year-old has featured in only six games across two seasons because of fitness issues, but the franchise - which had retained him for Rs 11 crore - has decided to persist with the young tearaway pacer.

SuperGiants, however, will release Ravi Bishnoi, who, like Yadav, had been retained last season for an identical Rs 11 crore. He managed nine wickets from 11 games and was overshadowed by the other spinner in the side, Digvesh Rathi, who claimed 14 wickets from 13 games at a much better economy rate. The Lucknow side will also release David Miller and are believed to be considering letting Shamar Joseph go as well.

Evidently, the worst performing sides of the previous season would be involved in more release activity than other teams. And Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, the two bottom-placed sides of last season, have been in the act, predictably. The teams already consumed a lot of air time and print and digital space lately over highly-publicised trade of Ravindra Jadeja-Sanju Samson trade.

The trade should go through despite the process hitting a technical bottleneck as reported by this website on November 11. The Super Kings are expected to release players like Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar and Jamie Overton among others while the Royals are likely to part with quite a few players, including Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Kwena Maphaka among others.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings, the champions and runners-up last season, are not parting with too many players, as expected. While Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone, Blessing Muzarabani and Rasikh Dar are in the hit list of RCB, Punjab Kings may let go players like Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Hardie. Mitch Owen had come in place of Maxwell, who had to be replaced midway last season because of an injury. He will not be recalled.

Mumbai Indians have acquired Mayank Markande through a one-way trade from Knight Riders after trading Arjun Tendulkar to LSG. The five-time champions may want to retain someone like Jonny Bairstow who had come in as a temporary replacement last season in an emergency situation. Compatriot Will Jacks, who left to join the England team midway, may be in the danger zone. Delhi Capitals should release T Natarajan and Jake Fraser McGurk among others.