IPL 2014: Which players should teams buy in auctions with their RTM cards

Rajasthan Royals

Number of RTM options: 1

They are the only team to have retained two uncapped Indian players and they don’t have many big names left in that squad to choose from.

Brad Hodge

They are also probably the only team who are absolutely certain about the man whom they would love to retain using their ‘right to match’ card. And that man is none other than the 39 year old veteran Brad Hodge. Extremely fit for his age and is still scoring runs consistently in this format.

He is amongst the runs in the BBL for the Melbourne Stars, and would be RR’s first choice for the RTM.

Kevon Cooper

A player who is very much reliable with the ball, he has delivered for the Royals on most of the occasions and they would love to retain him if they fail to retain Hodge. He ended up with 19 wickets last season and was regularly used in the death overs.

Royals have always promoted lesser known talent and players like Vikramjeet Malik, Rahul Shukla would hope to retain their spots, but it’s almost certain that they would go for Hodge.

FINAL VERDICT: Brad Hodge

Chennai Super Kings

Number of RTM options: 1

Much like the Royals, CSK don’t have too many options either. They are the only team to have retained all four capped Indian players, which means they won’t be able to retain the likes of Badrinath, Vijay or Mohit Sharma using RTM.

Michael Hussey

Hussey is expected to be first choice. He won the orange cap last season and is amongst the runs in the Big Bash as well. Also the fact that he has been associated with CSK ever since the beginning could work in his favour as he had reiterated his wish to end his career with them.

Who wouldn’t want to retain last season’s Orange cap winner?

Faf Du Plessis

If not Mike Hussey, then the automatic choice would be to replace him at the top with South Africa’s T20 captain. He didn’t play a single game last season but had a great time in the 2012 edition scoring 398 at an average of 33 and a strike rate of 131.

The two South African all-rounders Chris Morris and Albie Morkel have an outside chance. Morris had a good first season last time around but Morkel was not utilized much.

FINAL VERDICT: Michael Hussey