The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most successful domestic T20 league in the world. This year, IPL completed its 10 years and in these 10 years, the extravagant tournament has given us many memorable moments and most importantly, many talented players.
The likes of Shane Watson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Sunil Narine and many others benefited from the platform and made a big name for themselves. The basic idea behind IPL was to provide a platform for youngsters in India where they can share the dressing room with the legends of the game and get exposed to top class competitive cricket even before playing international cricket.
And, to be fair, IPL has achieved this gaol. There have some been some grey areas but the good easily overpowers the bad.
According to some media reports, the teams are likely to be allowed to retain a maximum of three players. And this will make franchise owners’ job difficult because they will have to make the tough call.
Mumbai Indians are the most successful franchise in IPL history and they have build a very strong and consistent team over the years. They have a policy of giving fair chances to players they buy in the auction and this the reason why they have been able to maintain their ‘core’ in the first 10 years of IPL.
Some media reports are suggesting that Mumbai Indians will release their most loved speedster Lasith Malinga in next year’s auction.
Lasith Malinga is one of the best fast bowlers in T20 cricket history. Since the introduction of the shortest format of the game, Lasith Malinga has been one of the most demanded players in domestic T20 leagues around the world.
His unorthodox action and impeccable accuracy made it very difficult for the batters around the world to put him away. Initially, Malinga was a treated as a bowler who could disguise batters with his slower deliveries and deadly yorkers, but he kept working hard on his strengths and established himself as one of the best fast bowlers in the world in shorter formats of the game.
But, with age not on his side and some fitness issues, Lasith Malinga is not the same force he used to be till a couple of years ago.
“As per the rules, Every team can preserve maximum four to five players, Mumbai Indians team management is on the opinion to release the Slinga Malinga,” a source, close to Mumbai Indians told Cricket Age.
“The Mumbai Indians can also buy him back, but as far as the auction is concerned, it looks like Lasith Malinga will find himself in the pool of players up for grabs” the source revealed further.
