When the IPL Retentions were announced on Oct 31, GT retained Rashid Khan (₹18 Cr), Shubman Gill (₹16.5 Cr), Sai Sudharsan (₹8.5 Cr), Rahul Tewatia (₹4 Cr), and Shahrukh Khan (₹4 Cr). While Rashid and Shubman, along with Sudharsan good picks, but then the same cannot be said about Shahrukh.
Questionable IPL Retention
That, when they had the option of retaining David Miller, Kane Williamson and even Matthew Wade. If not foreigners, there were Indian options in Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma and Vijay Shankar as well, with no update on Mohammed Shami’s fitness. For now, it seems like GT have certainly erred in retaining Shahrukh.
His numbers haven’t been the most impressive by any standards, and some of the performers have been left out. In fact, even if the team management do want to RTM a player, they would miss out on the services of some good names. For the record, in 7 matches in IPL 2024, Shahrukh Khan had scored only 127 runs at an average of 18 only.
Shahrukh Khan Poor Throughout
He hasn’t fared much better in his overall IPL career too. in 40 matches in his career. He has only 553 runs at an average under 20, with just one fifty to his name. Even for Tamil Nadu, for which he plays in domestic competitions, in 90 matches, he has only 1055 runs at an average of 18. So then, if he is poor throughout, then why was he even retained. Instead they could have retained Mohit, who picked up 13 wickets in 12 matches. A year prior to that he had 27 wickets.
That would not only have solidified their bowling, but allowed them a chance to go for a big Indian batter at the auction that thet dearly need.
IPL GT Releases
BR Sharath, Abhinav Manohar, Sandeep Warrier, Gurnoor Brar, Darshan Nalkande, David Miller*, Jayant Yadav, Joshua Little*, Kane Williamson*, Matthew Wade*, Mohammad Shami, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad*, Sai Kishore, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Azmatullah Omarzai*, Umesh Yadav, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi.
