IPL 2022 Auction: 5 Legendary Players Who Can Return To Their Former Teams

The Indian Premier League is going to be a 10-team affair from the next edition onwards. Two new teams such as Lucknow and Ahmedabad have come into the fray. Much to the delight of the fans, a Mega Auctions will be held next year, most probably in February.

The eight existing teams were earlier told to retain a maximum of four players for the next edition of the tournament. The remaining players in the squad will go back into the auction. The eight existing franchisees have spent a lot of 269 crores for 27 players. Of these 27, 19 players are Indians, while 8 of them are foreigners.

Rest, all the players have gone back into the auctions. There are a lot of veteran players who will find themselves at the auction pool and are likely to cause a bidding war. There could be a chance that some of these players may go back to their former teams. In this article, let’s talk about five of those.

IPL 2022 Auction: 5 Legendary Players Who Can Return To Their Former Teams

Ravichandran Ashwin to Chennai Super Kings

Ravichandran Ashwin began his IPL career with Chennai Super Kings. He rose to fame after exhibiting match-winning performances for CSK in the cash-rich tournament. He was roped in by CSK as an uncapped spinner ahead of the inaugural edition of IPL.

He played for the franchise for 8 years between 2008 and 2015. During his stint, he picked 90 wickets in 94 matches, helping CSK become one of the most successful teams in the history of the tournament.

CSK was suspended for two years thereafter and Ashwin had to join Rising Pune Supergiants. For the last two seasons, he played for Delhi Capitals. But now that the franchise have released him, there could be a chance that he might go back to Chennai Super Kings for the next edition of the tournament.

David Warner to Delhi Capitals

Sunrisers Hyderabad is very close to David Warner’s heart. He has led that side for a number of years, scored a plethora of runs, and helped them win the title in 2016. He has, in fact, scored the most number of runs for SRH in IPL.

However, SRH wasn’t where he started playing the IPL. His first franchise in IPL was Delhi Capitals. He played for Delhi Capitals from 2009 to 2013. He played 55 matches during his stint with Delhi Capitals and managed to score 1435 runs at an average of 26.

Warner played only 7 matches during his first season with Delhi Capitals in 2009 and scored 163 runs at an average of 23.28. His numbers, however, improved in the following seasons. Given that SRH have released Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner could go back to Delhi Capitals for the 2022 edition of IPL.

KL Rahul to Royal Challengers Bangalore

KL Rahul has been one of the consistent batsmen in the last few years in IPL. He has done the bulk of scoring for PBKS since his arrival in 2018. He was the highest run-scorer for the franchise in all four seasons that he was part of. The IPL opener was the third-highest run-getter last season, having managed to score 626 runs in 13 matches at an average of 62.60.

For those of you who don’t know, KL Rahul didn’t start his IPL journey from Punjab Kings. He made his IPL debut in 2013 while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He played 5 matches but only managed to score 20 runs. He moved to SRH the following year before coming back to RCB in 2015. He played for RCB in 2015 and 2016. Despite scoring heavily in 2016, he was traded to Punjab Kings in the 2018 edition of the tournament. KL Rahul has come a long way since.

Given that RCB are looking for a captain to lead the franchise in the future, they would be keen to bring KL Rahul back into the team.

Trent Boult to Delhi Capitals

Trent Boult looked a completely different bowler since he joined Mumbai Indians in the 2020 edition of the tournament. He picked the third-most number of wickets for MI in his very first season for the franchise. He bowled well in the last season as well for MI, picking 13 wickets.

Before joining Mumbai Indians, Trent Boult played for Delhi Capitals. He was picked by the Delhi Capitals in the 2017 edition of the tournament. He played only 5 matches. However, the New Zealand seamer performed exceedingly well in the following season, picking 18 wickets in 14 matches.

Mumbai Indians released Trent Boult ahead of the next season and Delhi Capitals would be desperate to get him back into the side.

Shikhar Dhawan to Sunrisers Hyderabad

Shikhar Dhawan has played an instrumental role in Delhi Capital’s success over the last few years. Dhawan was traded to Delhi Capitals by Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League.

Dhawan scored the most runs for the franchise for three consecutive seasons from 2019 to 2021. He finished as the fourth-highest run-scorer in IPL 2021, amassing 587 runs in 16 matches at an average of close to 40.

Despite all those contributions, Delhi Capitals decided to let go of their opener for the next edition. One shouldn’t be surprised if Dhawan goes back to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the next edition of IPL.