In my previous blog on IPL, I had talked about the players that were almost certain to be retained. In this piece the focus will be on players who are wildcards to be retained by their respective franchises – even if these players are not retained they will be highly pursued by the franchises, which had them in the roster in 2013, as well as others. So let us begin without further ado:
Chennai Super Kings
- Subramaniam Badrinath – one of the best batsmen in India and a composed cricketer
- Dwayne Bravo – the best allrounder in West Indies
- Faf du Plessis – one of the best batsmen for a crisis and an electric fielder to boot
- Jason Holder – a seamer capable of offering good control at any stage in an innings
- Mike Hussey – one of the best batsmen of his generation
- Shadab Jakati – one of the finest allrounders in Indian domestic List A cricket
- Ben Laughlin – a wily seamer with lots of variations
- Chris Morris – a capable fast bowler and a good batsman down the order
- Dirk Nannes – one of the fastest bowlers outside international cricket
- Mohit Sharma – a canny seamer a la Laughlin; has had international exposure of late
- Murali Vijay – a successful opener, especially in Indian conditions
- Ben Hilfenhaus – a quality swing bowler
- Baba Aparajith – a promising allrounder
Delhi Daredevils
- Mahela Jayawardene – one of the classiest batsmen going around
- Johan Botha – one of the best spin bowling allrounders in the world
- Jeevan Mendis – a capable leggie and a good batsman
- Shahbaz Nadeem – has been a revelation for Delhi Daredevils and led the spin attack in the last couple of years
- Ashish Nehra – an experienced warhorse
- Naman Ojha – explosive batsman and dependable keeper
- Ben Rohrer – a dependable batsman down the order
- Andre Russell – a capable allrounder and one of the finest fielders going around
- Roelof van der Merwe – a combative allrounder especially with his left arm spin and also an asset on the field
- Venugopal Rao – an experienced batsman
- Umesh Yadav – one of the fastest Indian bowlers and good at death
- Varun Aaron – like Umesh, one of the quickest bowlers going around
- Kevin Pietersen – a world class and charismatic batsman
- Jesse Ryder – a destructive opener who has recently returned in style for his national team
- Yogesh Nagar – a capable batter down the order
Kings XI Punjab
- Parvinder Awana – one of the quickest Indian bowlers and has been successful in first class cricket
- Bhargav Bhatt – a competent left arm spinner
- Manpreet Gony – a tall seamer capable of extracting disconcerting bounce
- Harmeet Singh – a canny medium pacer with variations who is ideal for the middle overs
- David Hussey – an experienced campaigner and one of the leading run scorers in T20s
- Mandeep Singh – a promising and successful opener
- Luke Pomersbach – a devastating batsman in the top order
- Sandeep Sharma – one of the up and coming swing bowlers of India
- Ryan Harris – one of the best fast bowlers in world cricket
Kolkata Knight Riders
- Lakshmipathy Balaji – a useful seam bowler and has played a lot for the national team in this format
- Rajat Bhatia – a canny allrounder especially effective in the bowling department
- Brad Haddin – a world class keeper and an excellent batsman
- Iqbal Abdulla – a promising spin bowler who can also score some runs down the order
- Brett Lee – still one of the fastest and also very experienced
- Brendon McCullum – the best opening batsman in the limited overs format
- Ryan McLaren – a capable allrounder and a brilliant fielder
- Eoin Morgan – one of the best finishers in the modern game
- Yusuf Pathan – a fiery batsman and also handy offspinner
- Sachitra Senanayake – a wily and dependable offie
- Shakib Al Hasan – one of the best allrounders in the T20 format
- Laxmi Shukla – an excellent allrounder in the domestic circuit
- Ryan ten Doeschate – a fine batsman, capable bowler and a very good fielder
- James Pattinson – one of the best young fast bowlers in the world game
Mumbai Indians
- Abu Nechim – a good quick bowler who can be really good at the death
- Jasprit Bumrah – an upcoming quick bowler capable of generating good pace
- Nathan Coulter-Nile – one of the finest among the young crop of Aussie fast bowlers
- Rishi Dhawan – a capable seam bowling allrounder who can be critical to the team’s balance
- James Franklin – a good batsman and also more than capable bowler
- Phillip Hughes – a batsman capable of quick scoring and a good fielder
- Dhawal Kulkarni – a promising seamer and also a decent batsman down the order
- Glenn Maxwell – an explosive batsman, capable off spinner and a brilliant fielder
- Pragyan Ojha – the best left arm spinner in India
- Jacob Oram – an experienced campaigner especially effective with the bat
- Munaf Patel – an experienced seamer who has won the World Cup for India
- Ambati Rayudu – a team India regular and one of the best reserve batsmen for India
- Jalaj Saxena – one of the best allrounders in domestic cricket
- Dwayne Smith – an explosive batsman atop the order, capable medium pacer and also a good fielder
- Pawan Suyal – a quick left arm bowler, his angle can be effective against batsman looking to be aggressive
- Suryakumar Yadav – a promising batsman who has recently represented India in age group cricket
Pune Warriors
The team may be defunct but the following players will be high in demand when the bidding starts on 12th February:
- Angelo Mathews – a capable batsman and a decent seamer
- Ashok Dinda – one of the better quick bowlers in India
- Aaron Finch – a destructive opening batsman – in fact the very best in limited overs cricket in Australia
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar – the finest swing bowler in India and also a handy batsman down the order
- Mitchell Marsh – a big hitter and also fantastic seamer
- Ajantha Mendis – an off spinner with plenty of tricks
- Abhishek Nayar – a combative medium pacer-allrounder
- Ishwar Pandey – one of the up and coming seamers in India
- Manish Pandey – a good batsman up the order and also good in the field
- Wayne Parnell – probably the best left arm quickie in South Africa and more than capable with the bat
- Parvez Rasool – one of the best allrounders in Indian domestic cricket in terms of performance
- Kane Richardson – a promising quick bowler and a decent batsman
- Marlon Samuels – the best batsman in the Windies and also a good off spinner
- Rahul Sharma – a disciplined leg spinner who can offer a fair bit of control
- Steven Smith – an exceptional batsman, a good leggie and also a brilliant fielder
- Tamim Iqbal – a destructive opener up the order
- Ross Taylor – the finest batsman in New Zealand
- Robin Uthappa – an attacking opener and also a capable keeper
- Shrikant Wagh – a pacy left arm seamer and a whole hearted performer
- Luke Wright – a fantastic batsman atop the order and a good enough seamer
- Yuvraj Singh – still, one of the best middle order batsmen in India
- Michael Clarke – a fantastic leader and also one of the best batsmen in the world
Rajasthan Royals
- Samuel Badree – a very good leg spinner who can dry the runs up from his end
- Stuart Binny – recently selected for the national team and a combative allrounder
- Fidel Edwards – a fast bowler still capable of devastating bursts
- Brad Hogg – a fantastic and experienced left arm spinner
- Ashok Menaria – one of the most promising batsmen in India
- Kusal Perera – a destructive batsman and a good keeper
- Sanju Samson – an up and coming prospect for the national team, especially capable hitter down the order and a good keeper
- Owais Shah – one of the most experienced and capable T20 batsmen in the world
- Rahul Shukla – one of the quickest bowlers in India
- Shaun Tait – a devastatingly quick yet often erratic fast bowler
- Pravin Tambe – a surprise package of 2013; one of the better leg spinners in India
- Siddharth Trivedi – a capable and canny medium pacer
Royal Challengers Bangalore
- Sreenath Aravind – a promising left arm seamer he can bowl good lines and exert some pressure
- Daniel Christian – a good batsman and a better bowler; a handy proposition
- Moises Henriques – a very good bowler and a decent hitter; is a capable fielder as well
- Murali Kartik – an experienced and skilled left arm spinner
- Andrew McDonald – a good batsman and a capable medium pacer
- Abhimanyu Mithun – a good seamer who is capable of picking up a wicket or two at every opportunity
- Abhinav Mukund – a successful run-getter in domestic cricket
- Muttiah Muralitharan – even after retirement he has continued to be highly sought after because of his immense experience and incredible skill
- Pankaj Singh – a capable and successful seamer in domestic cricket
- Prasanth Parameswaran – can generate disconcerting pace and bowls a good line
- Harshal Patel – a good seam bowler and very competitive
- Ravi Rampaul – the best limited overs quick bowler in the West Indies
- RP Singh – one of the finest left arm seamers in India
- Saurabh Tiwary – has the capability to play big strokes and capitalize on good starts
- Jaydev Unadkat – a promising left arm seamer; can bowl good line and length and has a decent yorker
- Vinay Kumar – one of the better limited overs bowlers in India and has plenty of variations
- Vijay Zol – an emerging cricketer especially with the bat
- Cheteshwar Pujara – a solid batsman who can be relied to anchor the innings
Sunrisers Hyderabad
- Kumar Sangakkara – one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen going around in world cricket
- Quinton de Kock – has been in exceptional form of late; also a very good batsman
- Jean Paul Duminy – a capable performer with the bat, can also pick up a wicket or two with his loopy offspin
- Chris Lynn – a power hitter and a very good outfielder
- Nathan McCullum – a very good spinner, capable batsman and a fantastic fielder
- Clint McKay – a very good seamer with excellent changes of pace and other variations
- Amit Mishra – probably the best leg spinner in India
- Thisara Perera – a destructive batsman and a good bowler
- Veer Pratap Singh – a tall bowler who can hit the deck hard and bowl at good pace
- Karn Sharma – a good leg spinner
- Sudeep Tyagi – is capable of boosting the seam bowling stocks
- Hanuma Vihari – a good batsman down the order
- Cameron White – one of the finest batsmen in Australia, can also bowl a couple of overs if needed
