Not Surprised With KKR Not Retaining Gambhir Says Virender Sehwag

Updated - 17 Jan 2018, 12:59 PM

Virender Sehwag to represent DDCA alongside Aakash Chipra in the Committee. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise surprised everyone when they did not retain their former skipper, Gautam Gambhir, on the IPL retention day. Though Gambhir had already said that he has had no talks with the franchise, which indicated that the franchise would not retain him.

As per reports, Gautam Gambhir is looking forward to playing for Delhi Daredevils, again.

Virender Sehwag, former teammate of Gambhir in Delhi Daredevils, has said that he is not surprised with KKR not retaining Gambhir,

‘I am not surprised KKR did not
retain Gambhir,’ Sehwag told The Quint.

As per Sehwag, the franchise might use Right to Match (RTM) card on him, the report in The Quint adds.

(Photo credit should read DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Going into the auction, KKR have three RTM cards remaining in their bag as they retained two players in the form of Sunil Narine and Andre Russel. Both the retentions came as a big surprise.

The possible reason behind Narine’s retention could be him providing an extra advantage to the team with his batting while Russell is already an established all-rounder. Still, he is yet to make a comeback to competitive cricket after serving his ban. Last year, he had to withdraw from the league due to the same reason.

KKR will be going into the IPL auction with a total purse of Rs 59 Crore. They have already spent Rs. 21 Crore in the retention ceremony.

The mega-auction for the upcoming IPL season will be held on January 27 and 28. The auction process will be a two-day affair. On day 1, the capped players or players who have played international cricket will go under the hammer while on day 2, uncapped players or players who are yet to play international cricket will be up for auction.

A total of 1122 players have registered for the auction till now. However, the board will cut down the list soon and will announce a new list. For the first time in the history, England Test skipper, Joe Root, has signed up for the T20 league.

The upcoming IPL season will start in the first week of April. Mumbai Indians are the defending champions. The Rohit Sharma led side defeat Rising Pune Supergiant in the final by one run to win the tournament for the third time.

Follow IPL 2018 news here

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