2018 IPL Auction: One player from each team who shouldn't be retained via RTM

After the 2018 IPL retention that took place last week, the think-tanks of all the eight IPL sides would have already started to work on the auction that is set to take place on January 27 and 28. As the auction is not far, the eight franchises must have finalised their priorities for the RTM cards.

Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils can use a maximum of two Right-to-Match cards while Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad can use three each.

While the teams will be having some options up the sleeve on the players they want to use their RTMs on, let us take a look at the players on whom each franchise "should not" use their RTM cards.

Chennai Super Kings: Dwayne Smith

After retaining MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, Chennai Super Kings can use their RTMs on two overseas players which means they won't be having the luxury of retaining local boy Ravichandran Ashwin in the IPL auction.

The CSK team management can use their RTM on two among the likes of Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis, Andrew Tye, Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo.

In McCullum, CSK will get an explosive batsman who can dent the confidence of the opposition in a matter of balls, an acrobatic fielder and a leader within the team who can assist MS Dhoni ('only' when it is needed) with a decision or two.

In Bravo and Tye, CSK will have two quality death bowlers who can choke the run flow in the death overs. Du Plessis was an integral part of the CSK outfit when the team was in the league.

It all comes to Dwayne Smith, who, like McCullum, is a swashbuckling batsman at the top of the order. Since the team has better options than the West Indian, they should not look to waste an RTM card for him in the IPL auction.

Delhi Daredevils: Angelo Mathews

In the IPL retention, Delhi Daredevils retained Indian duo of Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer along with South African all-rounder Chris Morris, who was an integral part of the Daredevils unit over the last couple of years.

In the upcoming IPL auction, the Delhi Daredevils team management can make use of two RTMs, out of which one will be for an Indian and the other one will be for a foreigner.

They have just a couple of good options when it comes to using the RTM for an Indian player. Batsman Sanju Samson has been a consistent performer in the IPL since making his debut and the other one is leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who is the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL.

If they are looking for an out-of-the-box choice, they can opt for Indian pacer Mohammad Shami but that is unlikely to happen.

The RTM for the overseas players will be used on either Quinton de Kock or Kagiso Rabada. If they fail to use it on them they might opt for Pat Cummins. They will have their options open but they should just make sure that Angelo Mathews is not a part of that as the Sri Lankan all-rounder has hardly contributed to his team's cause in the IPL and they have better options available.

Kings XI Punjab: Glenn Maxwell

Kings XI Punjab just retained Axar Patel ahead of the 2018 auction and are left with three RTM cards which they can use on a maximum of two Indians and an overseas player or on two overseas players and an Indian.

The overseas options the KXIP team management led by former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag include the likes of Hashim Amla, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan, Martin Guptill etc.

Without a doubt, Maxwell has been Kings XI's best player over the last four seasons and the franchise might look to retain the Aussie batsman in the upcoming auction. But, it won't be a good decision in many ways.

Firstly, they have better options in the form of Amla, Miller, Guptill etc. and nowadays, Maxwell is not as effective as he was before as he has been found out by the opposition who just bring in a leg-spinner to see him walk back to the pavilion.

Adding to this, Sehwag was quite vocal about Maxwell's performance and blamed him for Kings XI's early exit last season and it won't be a good decision if they use an RTM card for Maxwell because there are chances that a rift will be created between the Aussie and the former international, which will directly reflect on the team's on-field performance.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir

Kolkata Knight Riders' usage of the retentions were quite surprising as they opted to retain their West Indian internationals Andre Russell, who last played competitive cricket in January 2017, and Suni Narine. After retaining just two players, they are allowed to use three RTM cards and all those three should be used for an Indian cricketer.

In all likelihood, batsman Manish Pandey and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav will be retained and the third option will be a toss-up between Robin Uthappa, who is very good in the format, Umesh Yadav, skipper Gautam Gambhir and Piyush Chawla.

Gambhir has been the backbone of the Knight Riders outfit since 2011 as he led the team to title twice. With Gambhir's age (36) going against him, he is expected to be around for a maximum of two more years and with the availability of better options, the franchise should keep their emotions aside and not retain Gambhir in the IPL auction.

Mumbai Indians: Lasith Malinga

Mumbai Indians were wise to retain three of their local core players, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya ahead of the 2018 IPL. After retaining three Indian players, the MI think-tank are left with two RTM cards and are allowed to use them for overseas players alone.

In all likelihood, they will use the two RTMs on two players among Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard (likely ones) and Mitchell McClenaghan. They should not look beyond these names as Pollard has been instrumental for Mumbai since joining them in 2010 and Buttler, along with McClenaghan, was doing a good job over the last couple of seasons.

West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons could be their darkhorse.

The franchise should make sure that they don't retain Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga in the auction. Over the last couple of years, the slinger has been finding it difficult to replicate his success from the past and has been leaking a lot of runs.

With Malinga approaching 35 and Jasprit Bumrah breathing fire, there are better options available for Rohit Sharma and co. in the auction even if they let the Lankan go ahead of next season.

Rajasthan Royals: James Faulkner

Just like Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals opted to retain just one player ahead of the auction and will have the luxury of using all the three RTM cards. It is unlikely that they will use all three of them as the options they have are Dhawal Kulkarni, Ajinkya Rahane, James Faulkner, Pravin Tambe (if he is still playing) and Rajat Bhatia.

They might be tempted to use their card for Rahane and Faulkner. Though getting Rahane back might be a good decision, the same cannot be said about the Aussie international as he has been hardly effective of late.

Even in the last couple of seasons, he was in and out of the Gujarat Lions because of poor performances before he was dropped from the Australian limited-overs squad for the upcoming series against England, thanks to his below-par performances in the series against India and the ongoing Big Bash League.

The Royals will be better off not using the RTM for the Aussie and save the money for some other player instead of retaining him at the auction.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle

Royal Challengers Bangalore hogged the limelight after the 2018 IPL retention as they retained Virat Kohli for a whopping 17 crores, the costliest player in the history of IPL, AB de Villiers and uncapped Indian batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Though the retentions of Kohli and de Villiers were understandable, Sarfaraz being retained by the franchise came as a surprise to many, especially after he was retained ahead of the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Chris Gayle, KL Rahul etc.

RCB can afford to use a maximum of two RTMs, one for an Indian and the other for an overseas international. It is likely that the team management will look to retain just one Indian in Chahal and will go to the auction pool for other players.

Even if they want to retain a foreigner, they should not look at Gayle as the Big Jamaican has been a liability for the team in the last two seasons and was dropped from the team on several occasions. Ideally, they should just use one RTM and if they want to use both of them, it should not be used for Gayle.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Yuvraj Singh

Sunrisers Hyderabad are one of the very few teams who did the right thing at the 2018 IPL retentions as they retained only David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the auction. The decision of not to retain Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan might have come as a surprise to many as the leggie has been effective in almost all the T20 tournaments around the world.

But, it is understandable that the team management might have wanted to have some money in their bag going into the auction where they can make use of three RTM cards, one for an overseas player and two for Indians.

It is expected that they will retain Shikhar Dhawan and Rashid Khan with two RTMs and for the final RTM, they have options like Deepak Hooda, Md Siraj and Siddarth Kaul.

The team management should make sure that they don't use their third RTM for Yuvraj Singh as the dashing southpaw is well past his prime and with age not on his side, he might be around for many years to come. Instead, they can invest in a youngster like Deepak Hooda and back him to come good in the upcoming editions.