IPL 2018: One Player that each Franchise will regret losing from their last IPL Squad

IPL 2018 began with a cracking match between the defending champions Mumbai and Chennai Super Kings in Wankhade last week. IPL is the best T20 league in the world and it requires tactical acumen in addition to the abilities of players on the field.

IPL's history has shown us that the results on the field are often decided on the auction table and it is therefore important for the franchises to pick the best players in the auctions.

In the search for the best new players, the teams might often miss out on important players who were already present in their squads. This article compiles such errors made by all the franchises.

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Chennai Super Kings-Ravichandran Ashwin

Chennai Super Kings are making a comeback into the IPL after a gap of 2 years and they tried their best to retain the old core team of 2015. They were partly successful as they retained Dhoni, Raina, and Jadeja and used the to Right To Match cards to buy back Bravo and Du Plessis.

The one man that Chennai team would definitely miss is Ravichandran Ashwin. He was the most important bowler of the Chennai team since his debut season in IPL in 2010. He was instrumental in the Chennai side winning the league in 2010 and 2011.

Ashwin was a cricketer who played all his cricket in Chennai and was the person who provided the local connect to the Chennai crowd. His record in Chepauk has been stunning and CSK would miss Ashwin for more reasons than one.

Ashwin has had a great season so far picking up wickets in important situations for his team and has led the Punjab team with great conviction.

Royal Challengers Bangalore- KL Rahul

Rahul is in the form of his life

Royal Challengers Bangalore retained their two most important players in Kohli and AB de Villiers for the auctions this year. In addition to these stalwarts, they also retained the young Sarfaraz Khan ahead of the like of KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, and Yuzvendra Chahal, though the latter was retained using the RTM card.

KL Rahul is one of the most talented batsmen in Indian cricket at present and is a player who is capable of playing in all the three formats. He is a great boost for any team at the top of the order.

Rahul has been in splendid form in this year's IPL as he has scored the fastest fifty in IPL history in his very first match. He continued his brilliant run scoring more than 30 in his second and third matches at a strike rate of over 200.

In contrast, RCB had to use an overseas opener in McCullum and he hasn't been as effective as Rahul for the team. An Indian opener who can keep wicket and has a strike rate of more than 150 is a captain's delight and Kohli for sure has missed a trick here.

Sunrisers Hyderabad- Moises Henriques

Henriques had a great season for SRH last year

Sunrisers Hyderabad has one of the most well-rounded squads in IPL this year. They have covered all their bases in both batting and bowling. This team looks well poised to be in the playoffs at the end of the season.

The team management has done an excellent job in assembling this team by buying some excellent players but they might have missed a trick in not buying Moises Henriques who went unsold in the auction.

Henriques was one of the most influential players in the Sunrisers squad in the 2017 season. He scored 277 runs in 12 matches last year at a stupendous average of 46 and a brilliant strike rate of 136. He also contributed with the ball in the 2016 season when Sunrisers won its first IPL trophy.

In 3 matches the middle order has struggled on two occasions and the other time the top order got them through. The middle order of the Hyderabad team looks extremely weak and Henriques would have been a great pick.

Mumbai Indians-Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan would have been a great addition to the 2018 Mumbai team

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions of IPL this year and is one of the teams which tried to retain its core team from the previous years. They have been successful in retaining Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya brothers, and Kieron Pollard.

Mumbai has a decent batting side and a brilliant pace bowling attack this year but one area they lack is the strength of the spin bowling department. Harbhajan Singh was an experienced player who was part of the Mumbai squad since the very first season of IPL in 2008.

Harbhajan was also made the captain of the Mumbai team before Rohit Sharma took over. He has a great record in IPL scalping 127 wickets in 136 matches at a brilliant economy rate of 6.95. He would have been lent a great amount of stability to the inexperienced Mumbai spin attack.

Mayank Markande has performed brilliantly and has become the lead spinner of the team but Krunal Pandya hasn't performed up to the expectation. Rohit Sharma had to bring in Akila Dhananjaya to compensate for his poor performance in the third game but he too wasn't impressive. In such a time Harbhajan would have been a great pick in the team especially considering his performance for the Chennai team.

Kolkata Knight Riders- Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir will be missed both as a captain and as a batsman

Kolkata this year has one of the weakest sides in the tournament thanks to a brittle middle order. Gambhir's absence was clearly felt in the auctions itself as the team didn't have any leader while going to the auction table.

Dinesh Karthik has an enormous amount of experience as a player as he has played at the highest level for the past 14 years but the area where he lacks is the absence of any captaincy experience at this level.

Dinesh Karthik is an intelligent person and can be expected to tackle his lack of experience with his innovative brain but Gambhir would have been a great player for KKR to have because of the simple fact that he has already been a part of the setup and he knows the team management much better than anyone else

Rajasthan Royals- Shane Watson

Watson will open the innings this year for CSK

Shane Watson is the only player who has played for the Rajasthan Royals in all their 8 seasons of IPL. He was later picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2016 auction but he didn't have the best of times with RCB.

One would have expected the Royals who understand the value of a player like Watson to go after him. However, he was picked by the Chennai Super Kings and has been opening the batting for Chennai this year.

Watson has been a prolific player for Royals over the years and his performances have been splendid, to say the least. He is one of the few players to have two centuries in IPL and both have been for the Royals. His presence in the absence of Steve Smith would have been a huge boost for the Royals side and he will definitely be missed.

Watson has played brilliantly for the Chennai side at the top while Rajasthan has struggled with Short at the top. His experience as a bowler will also be sorely missed

Delhi Daredevils- Sanju Samson

Samson was a huge success last year

Sanju Samson played for Delhi Daredevils last year and will be returning this year to the side which had given him his first stage to showcase his talent to the world. He shot to prominence when he opened for the Royals along with Dravid and was extremely successful.

Samson continued his partnership with "The Great Wall of India" in Delhi Daredevils last year as he set the stage on fire with some impressive knocks. He and the other young talents found a great support in Dravid and performed beyond their potential under his guidance.

While Delhi retained Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant from last year, they were unable to retain Sanju Samson and he would have been a great opener for the Delhi side in the long run. Gambhir will more than make up his absence in the short run but it is the future which Delhi would have to look at.

Samson has been brilliant for Rajasthan in the three matches this year and is also the Orange cap holder at present. While Delhi is struggling with their youngsters who they had retained Samson is going from strength to strength

Kings XI Punjab- Glenn Maxwell

Maxwell's power hitting will be missed by Punjab

Glenn Maxwell was initially unearthed by Mumbai Indians but he was unable to get enough opportunities to showcase his talent thanks to the star-studded Mumbai Indians squad. He got his chance in 2014 when he played for the Kings XI Punjab and was a huge success in the UAE leg.

Maxwell's performance dropped in India due to his weakness against spin bowling. The biggest problem for Maxwell was that the entire batting line-up was dependent on just two players- Maxwell and Miller both of whom were explosive finishers.

This year Punjab have got some solid openers and have a brilliant middle order. Punjab would love to have a finisher like Maxwell to finish the innings for this side in partnership with Miller.

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