IPL 2018: 5 big players who are unlikely to be retained 

Lasith Malinga

Malinga has played for Mumbai Indians throughout his IPL career

The only bowler to take more than 150 IPL wickets. The leading wicket-taker for a single team in the tournament's history and the second-highest wicket-taker in T20s. These are just some of the numbers behind Lasith Malinga's hugely successful association with Mumbai Indians that has yielded the side four IPL titles, the most for any team.

While Malinga isn't what he used to be in his prime, he has shown that he can still be effective. But the problem for the Sri Lankan pacer is the plethora of options that the reigning IPL champions have when it comes to player retention. While captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are three who are certain to be retained, MI also have plenty of other options as well.

They have Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard, who both provide all-round options unlike Malinga and that is even before mentioning the likes of Jos Buttler, who might be an incredibly expensive buy in the auction if he is not retained.