IPL Auction 2020: 5 released players who could return to their own franchises

A lot of players from last season of IPL have found themselves back in the auction pool this time around, having been released by their franchises ahead of IPL 2020. The reasons vary as to why they were let go by their employers, but one reason is because their performances just did not match their wages.

However, these players can make their way back to their former franchises--but only if the franchisees have the opportunity to get them back into the squad at a price much lower than what they were paying earlier.

Here are the 5 players who could return to their former franchises in the upcoming IPL auction:

#5 Sam Curran (KXIP)

Sam Curran

2019 was Sam Curran’s debut season in the IPL and Kings XI Punjab had invested a lot in recruiting his services. The English youngster did perform well in certain matches (including taking a match-winning hattrick), but his overall performance throughout the season couldn’t quite justify the price he was bought for.

Also see - IND vs WI schedule 2019

Curran’s primary skill is his bowling, but he is more than capable of delivering with the bat as he has shown several times at the international level. KXIP probably could have made use of his batting potential a bit more had they slotted him up the order, but he never featured in their top order barring a solitary game.

As far as his bowling is concerned, Curran was entrusted with the job of bowling the most difficult overs in the match, often offered the new ball and then returning to bowl in the death as well. This probably was the reason why his economy rate for the season was 9.79.

KXIP might want to have Curran back in their ranks, but they would surely prefer a much lesser price for him this time around.

#4 Chris Lynn (KKR)

Chris Lynn

Chris Lynn seemed to have lost his mojo with the bat in the last 12 to 18 months. Although he scored a decent amount of runs for KKR last season, the ball didn’t seem to come out of the center of his willow most of the time. However, Lynn turned back the clock in the T10 league played in Abu Dhabi recently.

The 29-year old scored 4 half-centuries in the 8 games he played in the T10 tournament, striking the ball at a rate of 236.30 per 100 balls. Lynn was holding his shape pretty nicely while connecting with the ball in the T10 league, which allowed him to generate the right amount of power in his shots, something which was lacking in his game in the last IPL. Now that the swashbuckling Aussie is back in form, he would surely be on KKR’s radar again.

#3 Marcus Stoinis (RCB)

Marcus Stoinis

Marcus Stoinis is a utility player with the ability to contribute with both bat and ball. But, his contribution towards getting RCB their first IPL trophy was not significant in either of the two departments last season. He appeared to be more of a bits and pieces player in IPL 2019.

However, to cut him some slack, he didn’t get the opportunity to showcase his full potential with the bat as he was hardly used in the top 4 by the RCB management. Most of the time, he walked in to bat at a time where he had to go big from ball one.

Stoinis scored 211 runs in the 10 games that he played but was clearly not able to impress the team management with his figures.

However, since he brings an all-round skillset to the table, the possibility of Stoinis returning to RCB can’t be ruled out completely. The all-rounder has shown some good form in the Marsh One-Day Cup, which is the domestic List A tournament in Australia, recently and it won't be a total surprise if he returns to the Chinnaswamy Stadium draped in RCB colors.

#2 Rahul Tripathi (RR)

Rahul Tripathi

The Rajasthan Royals failed to use Rahul Tripathi in his right batting position in the last couple of seasons. He is an opening batsman and that’s where he has achieved most of his success in the IPL so far, but Rajasthan used him in the middle order where he wasn’t that successful. The right-hander could only score 141 runs in the last season of the IPL at an average of 23.50 and a strike rate of 119.49.

One of the reasons why Tripathi didn’t get the chance to open the innings for the Rajasthan Royals on a regular basis was because they already had a settled opening pair in Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler. However, since Rahane has been traded to the Delhi Capitals now, there is a vacancy at the top of the order for Rajasthan and they might just draft Tripathi back into the squad to use him as an opener.

#1 Chris Morris (DC)

Chris Morris

Chris Morris was one of the players who were retained by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the mega auction before IPL 2018. The franchise put a lot of faith in him, but the South African all-rounder wasn’t able to repay that faith in the last two editions of the tournament. It wasn’t exactly a surprise that DC decided to release him given his numbers with the ball in IPL 2019, where he got 13 wickets in 9 games at an economy rate of 9.27.

Morris is a player possessing the skill-set to perform difficult jobs with ease. While he can bowl pinpoint yorkers in the death, he has the potential to hit the ball long and hard as well while batting lower down the order. His recent form has been shaky, but because of the fact that he possesses such a precious skill-set, Delhi might keep an eye on his pricing in the auction and might use their RTM card if the pricing is not too high.