IPL 2015 Transfer News: Shocks And Surprises

The 2015 season of the Pepsi IPL will commence on Wednesday, 8 April 2015, and conclude on Sunday, 24 May, 2015 and the first Trading Window for the tournament opened on Monday, 6 October 2014.

Bangalore let go of Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, the most expensive buy of the last IPL auction, has been released by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Royal Challengers had paid Yuvraj Rs 14 crores ($2.33 million), an amount that consumed a massive share of their auction purse.

RCB owner Mallya revealed the reason he was stubborn about bidding for Yuvraj was only because Kohli, the Royal Challengers’ captain, had been keen to buy 2011 World Cup’s Player of the Tournament.

Although there was no official reaction from the franchise, it is understood that the Royal Challengers have not given up completely on Yuvraj.

 Kings XI release Pujara, Balaji and Murali Kartik

Kings XI Punjab have released Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Kartik and L Balaji from their squad for the next season of IPL which presents the Kings XI an opportunity to add the amount generated from the release of Rs 4.7 crore ($782,000) to their auction purse for the 2015 season.

Iqbal Abdulla moves to Royal Challengers and also acquire Bisla

Royal Challengers Bangalore made another addition to their squad during the transfer period, signing left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla who was part of the Rajasthan Royals franchise last season. Abdulla played only one game for Royals in IPL 2014, after spending six seasons with Kolkata Knight Riders where he took 33 wickets in 41 matches at 25.48.

They have also acquired Kolkata Knight Riders’ wicketkeeper batsman Manvinder Bislaand have released Parthiv Patel to Mumbai Indians. Bisla, who played his first IPL season in 2010 with Kings XI Punjab, has been a part of the Knight Riders squad since 2011 and played a match-winning innings for the franchise in the IPL 2012 final. He had been re-purchased by the franchise in the auction earlier this year but played just one game for the side in IPL 2014.

Delhi Daredevils Release Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay

Delhi Daredevils released four players – including superstar Kevin Pietersen – for the 2015 season of the T20 tournament. Kiwi international Ross Taylor, wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay have also been released. The Delhi Daredevils, who revamped their entire squad last season will have an additional 28.50 crore to spend in the auction ahead of the 2015 season.

The complete list of released DD players is -Kevin Pietersen, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Jayadev Unadkat, Ross Taylor, Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Rahul Sharma, Wayne Parnell, J Neesham, Siddarth Kaul, Rahul Shukla, HS Sharath, Milind Kumar.

Huge move By Sunrisers Hyderabad

Amit Mishra, Aaron Finch, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Jason Holder, Venugopal Rao, Brendan Taylor, P Parameswaran, Anirudha S and Manprit Juneja are amongst those released, apparently for 20.85 crores in purse by this franchise making them the franchise with maximum available opportunity to rebuild their team this season.

Mumbai release Hussey and Praveen Kumar and acquire Unmukt Chand from Rajasthan Royals and R. Vinay Kumar from Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively.

Mumbai Indians have bought batsman Unmukt Chand from Rajasthan Royals and medium-pacer Vinay Kumar from Kolkata Knight Riders. They have also acquired Royal Challengers Bangalore wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Mumbai have released batsman Michael Hussey and medium-pacer Praveen Kumar, both of whom may go into the player auction ahead of the 2015 season.

These are amongst the many transfers to follow in the months leading to the IPL and poses a lot of questions in the minds of fans. Marquee players like Yuvi and KP being released after being acquired for an expensive amount makes people question the validity of the decision made by owners in the first place.

These transfers certainly make the auction window very diverse and calls for interesting purchases this season.