IPL 2020, the thirteenth season of the premier T20 league in India will be played in April and May of 2020. The build-up to the tournament has already started. The IPL Auction for the 2020 season is scheduled to be held on 19 December 2019. IPL set the deadline of 14 November for the teams to trade players as well as decide on what players to release and retain.
After the end of the deadline, 127 players were retained by the eight IPL teams. This list of 127 players includes 35 overseas players. Chennai Super Kings, one of the most successful teams of the IPl with three titles to its name, retained 6 foreign players and 20 players in total. This list of 20 players includes the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, players who will make part of virtually anyone’s Dream11 Prediction team. Chennai Super Kings have the largest squad before the upcoming auction as it released only six players, including England’s Sam Billings.
The men in yellow from Chennai has now just five-player slots remaining for the auction, including 2 overseas slots. It looks like that the team management is putting its trust in the experience that it has in the squad. On the other hand, Bangalore released the most number of players, 12 and have 12 slots remaining, out of which 6 are for foreign players. CSK goes into the December 19 auction with Rs 14.6 crore to spend on a maximum of five players.
Wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings had been the part of the CSK squad in the past two seasons. Billings was apart of the 2018 Cup-winning campaign of the team and had played ten matches that season, including a half-century against Kolkata Knight Riders. But the last season was not so good for him as he made only one appearance in the playing XI. He scored a total of 108 runs in his 11 matches for the team.
All in all, Billings wasn’t a standout performer for the team. The presence of more experienced Indian as well as overseas players made it hard for him to cement his place as a regular for the CSK.
With the departure of Billings, the team will be looking to replace him possibly with another wicket-keeper batsman. The team currently has only MS Dhoni as someone who has experience of keeping wickets. The leading contender to fill this place in the auction could be Billing’s compatriot Tom Banton. Banton has impressed in the domestic circuit. The team also enquired about him with Somerset about his availability for the IPL. Banton has been signed by the Big Bash franchise Brisbane Heat for the 2019-20 season. Other players who could be in contention is Brandon King. King, the holder of highest individual record in the Caribbean Premier League, has proven what he can do as an opening batsman. Players from the Caribbean like Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo have performed very well for the Chennai side in the past. Australia’s limited-overs vice-captain Alex Carey is another strong possible choice for the franchise. Carey has become a regular in the national side and his leadership skills can also come in handy for the team.
