IPL 2019: 4 overseas players who should have been released by their teams

The IPL 2019 is set to have an early start next year owing to the World Cup. The franchises have already started to make preparations for the upcoming season and announced the list of players who they have retained and those who they have released, ahead of the auction which is scheduled to take place mid- December.

Many surprises awaited fans on seeing the retention list as many prominent names were released while few poor performers were retained. Glenn Maxwell (DD), Aaron Finch (KXIP), Yuvraj Singh (KXIP), Brendon Mccullum (RCB) and Mitchell Starc (KKR) were a few big names to be released.

While most of the released players will feature in the auction, there were a few players who were surprisingly retained.

Here are the players that each team needed to release.

---

#1 Chennai Super Kings- Sam Billings

Sam Billings

Sam Billings won CSK a crucial game after a Kolkata Knight Riders and Andre Russell blitzkrieg left them with a big total to chase down. He didn't make any significant contributions after that and was a player who didn't fit into the side. The team already has many all-rounders like him and he wasn't the first choice to play. In the 10 matches, he got to play 8 innings and managed just 108 runs at a poor average of 13.50.

Releasing Billings would have freed up some purse though CSK already has quite some money remaining. More importantly, it would free up an overseas slot which CSK could use to strengthen their pace attack or buy a quality all rounder. While players like Karn Sharma and Harbhajan Singh deserved to be released, no move would have benefited CSK as much as this one.

#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad- Mohammad Nabi

Mohammad Nabi

Mohammad Nabi was under the shadow of fellow Afghan Rashid Khan and didn't get enough chances to play. He played only 2 matches where he had very paltry outings. He was underutilized because he didn't fit into the team and there were better players waiting to play. With such things in mind, there seems to be no rational reason to hold him back and not give him a chance to play.

Nabi was once the Afghan captain and has tons of experience and would have been much sought after by any team. Releasing him would also mean that the team's purse would fatten and an overseas slot could free up where they need to make some advances to strengthen their batting unit.

#3 Mumbai Indians- Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard was one of the players slated to be released but the Mumbai Indians seem to have faith in him. Pollard had a poor IPL and managed to score just 133 runs in 9 innings despite the team letting him bat in his favorite position. His fielding, which was one of his biggest strengths, has not been at the level it was earlier too.

While one might argue that his performances in other T20 leagues is better, it's clear that the big West Indian is far from his best in the IPL, and if the Mumbai side had opted to release him, an overseas slot would have opened up and they could have looked at a younger, more thirsty and energetic all rounders like Sam Curran or batsmen like Shimron Hetmyer.

#4 Royal Challengers Bangalore- Tim Southee

Tim Southee

Tim Southee was expected to be the solution to RCB's death bowling woes but the Kiwi didn't shine. He picked up only 5 wickets from 8 games and was expensive with an economy rate of 9.00. He had a very poor average of 52.20 and didn't really excel with the new ball either.

He played for the Mumbai Indians before but failed to make much of an impact there. RCB have not been good with their selection policies and Southee's retention was not needed for the side.