IPL 2024 Auction: Gaps that teams will be looking to fill after announcing retained and released players

With the madness surrounding the ICC World Cup gradually dying down over the past week, the attention of cricket fans briefly shifted to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and to the players retained, released and traded by the individual franchises.

Sunday, 26 November happened to be the deadline for the teams to announce their list of retained players as well as those they’ve decided to release back into the auction pool. There are also some interesting trades that have happened along the way, the biggest of which was all-rounder Hardik Pandya returning to the Mumbai Indians after leading Gujarat Titans for a couple of seasons.

IPL 2024 Auction: Full list of players retained, released, traded, remaining purse, squad summary

The trading window will remain open till 12 December, exactly a week before the mini-auction takes place in Dubai, meaning the franchises could make a change or two to their squads. With the deadline for retention having passed however, the teams will have a good idea as to what they’ll be looking for in the auction next month.

Here’s a detailed look at gaps that the 10 teams will be looking to plug next month:

Chennai Super Kings

Released players: 8

Slots remaining: 6 (3 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 31.4 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

For defending champions CSK, the biggest developments at the time of player retention deadline was the confirmation of skipper MS Dhoni playing another season.

That along with the fact that they let go of three overseas seam-bowling all-rounders in Ben Stokes, Kyle Jamieson and Dwaine Pretorius, with Stokes having already opted out of the 2024 edition and freeing up Rs 16.25 crore for the ‘Yellow Army’ in the process. So that’s one area they’ll be looking to target in the upcoming auction, and might have their eyes set on Jason Holder, who has been released by the Rajasthan Royals.

Gujarat Titans

Released players: 9

Slots remaining: 8 (2 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 38.15 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

GT dominated headlines during the player retention deadline with skipper Hardik Pandya being traded to the Mumbai Indians, his former franchise. The 2022 champions and 2023 runners-up have since named Shubman Gill as their captain.

What has gone under the radar however is releasing a couple of their Indian seamers in Yash Dayal, who had been smacked for five sixes by Rinku Singh in one of the previous season’s top moments, and Shivam Mavi. GT already have two outstanding pacers in Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma and following Pandya’s departure, will need a seam-bowling back-ups.

Mumbai Indians

Released players: 12

Slots remaining: 8 (4 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 17.75 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

Mumbai Indians have made a long-term move by acquiring Pandya, a player they scouted back in 2015 and moulded into a match-winner over the years until releasing him ahead of the 2022 mega-auction. Pandya’s arrival signifies their intention to make him Rohit Sharma’s successor as leader of the franchise. They’ve also parted ways with express pacer Jofra Archer and traded seam-bowling all-rounder Cameron Green, who had played a couple of explosive knocks last season, to RCB to accommodate Pandya.

Having released as many as six seam options, including a couple of all-rounders, MI will be setting their sights on that particular department. Gerald Coetzee’s meteoric rise in recent months and his exemplary showing in the recent ICC World Cup might just have piqued the Nita Ambani-owned team’s interest and they might just splurge a majority of the Rs 17.75 crore that they have in their purse on acquiring him.

Lucknow Super Giants

Released players: 10

Slots remaining: 6 (2 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 13.15 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

LSG have gone for an overhaul in the coaching staff, bringing in former Australia opener Justin Langer as the head coach, and have also released as many as eight players into the auction pool, though with Rs 13.15 crore in their purse they have lesser funds to spend that most franchises. The seam department is an area they will be focusing on after releasing Daniel Sams and Jaydev Unadkat, whose season had been cut short this year due to injury. Given their relatively low balance, they could either break the bank for an overseas seamer or opt for relatively unknown names from the domestic circuit to build their reserves.

Rajasthan Royals

Released players: 9

Slots remaining: 8 (3 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 14.5 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

The Royals, who had finished runners-up in 2022 and narrowly missed out on the playoffs this year, have bolstered their pace unit by bringing in Avesh Khan from Lucknow, trading him for batter Devdutt Padikkal. They are also short on a couple of seam-bowling all-rounders in the middle order after letting go of West Indians Jason Holder and Odean Smith, and that will be one area they will have in mind on 19 December.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Released players: 11

Slots remaining: 6 (3 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 23.25 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

RCB parted ways with spin-bowling all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga as well as seamers Josh Hazlewood and Harshal Patel. The arrival of Australian all-rounder Cameron Green in an all-cash deal will have softened that blow a little, but the Faf du Plessis-led side will still have their sights set on bolstering their bowling attack further in the auction. And for that, they might be interested in acquiring a premier overseas pacer, someone like Mitchell Starc maybe.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Released players: 12

Slots remaining: 12 (4 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 32.7 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

The Knight Riders, who will have Shreyas Iyer back in action next season provided he remains fit and have also welcomed Gautam Gambhir back into their fold, made the surprising move of releasing all-rounder Shardul Thakur back into the auction pool. That along with letting go of New Zealand pacers Lockie Ferguson, who had been traded in from Gujarat Titans last season, and Tim Southee. KKR have some quality spin options in the trio of Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy as well as the veteran Sunil Narine, whom they’ve decided to retain. However, they are falling a little short in the seam department, especially with Andre Russell having cut down on his bowling workloads.

Punjab Kings

Released players: 5

Slots remaining: 8 (2 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 29.1 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

Punjab Kings have had the least number of releases — five in total — and the most prominent of those are middle-order pinch-hitter Shahrukh Khan, who had developed into quite the finisher last season, as well as Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa. Despite that, they have nearly 30 crore in the bank heading into next month’s mini-auction, and have eight slots to fill and might just end up going for another massive purchase. A look at their current squad, and most of the bases appear covered and they might just be interested in getting SRK back as their finisher.

Delhi Capitals

Released players: 11

Slots remaining: 9 (4 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 28.95 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

The Capitals are among the teams that have opted for a complete overhaul of their squad, releasing as many as 11 players, meaning they will be fairly busy during the auction as will sides such as KKR. They’ve lost a bit of edge in their middle order with Rovman Powell gone and his absence also takes away an overseas seam-bowling all-round option for DC. Expect them to invest in that department.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Released players: 6

Slots remaining: 6 (3 overseas)

Purse remaining: Rs 34 crore

What they’ll be looking for in auction:

Sunrisers Hyderabad had a season to forget last year, finishing at the bottom of the 10-team table. And their move to release Englishman Harry Brook, who had smashed a century last season, did raise quite a few eyebrows, especially since he could have been a long-term option for them as part of their core group of players.

With 34 crore in the bank and upto three overseas slots out of a total of six, they might be looking at the possibility of bringing him back in the auction. The ‘Orange Army’ have also not been the same in the spin department since they parted ways with Rashid Khan, who moved to GT, and by releasing English leg-spinner Adil Rashid, they will have their sights set on plugging that gap as well.