The IPL 2020 will kick off in March of next year, but before that, the official players’ auction will take place in Kolkata on 19th December 2019. Recently, the IPL franchises announced the list of their retained and released players.
Eight IPL franchises released a total of 71 players, with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) being the most (12), followed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) -11, Mumbai Indians- 10, Delhi Capitals- 9, Kings XI Punjab – 7, Chennai Super Kings – 6 and Sunrisers Hyderabad – 5.
Since the date of the auction is near, every team will be planning to make a good, stable, and balanced team. To do that, every team needs a destructive opener who can provide a flying start and give a perfect momentum.
Australia’s Chris Lynn, who had a phenomenal T10 tournament in Abu Dhabi, would be an ideal candidate as KKR has released him.
There is no doubt that Lynn has every potential to take the game away from the opposition, and more importantly, he’s in a superb form.
With an average of 53.00 and a strike rate of 236.30, Lynn dominated the entire T10 2019 season and scored 371 runs with four fifties. He also managed to hit the maximum number of fours (29) and sixes (31).
So, let’s have a look at the teams which could bid for Lynn in the upcoming IPL auction:
- Rajasthan Royals
The Royals, who had an awful IPL tournament this year, will be in need to go for an explosive opener as they have released Ajinkya Rahane. Lynn would fit perfectly in the squad as they have overseas players like Steve Smith and Ben Stokes, who solve the crisis of middle order and lower middle-order batting.
If RR takes Lynn, then in the company of Smith and Stokes, RR will become a rigid team for oppositions.
RR, which finished at the 2nd last spot in 2019 IPL standings will be looking forward to changing the fortunes and having Lynn as their opener. Lynn had a good run in 2019; he scored 405 runs with a strike rate of 139.65 and four fifties.
- Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB had stars like AB De Villiers, Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, yet they ended up finishing at the last spot in the 2019 season. They missed a devastating opener, and Chris Lynn has all the capabilities to fill up that place.
RCB has been heavily relying on Kohli, and De Villiers; therefore, Lynn’s addition can certainly solve this problem, and it may help both Kohli and De Villiers to play more freely.
As mentioned above, RCB has released the maximum number of players, and they are left with Rs 27.9 crores in their purse, which gives them a window to go a bit expensive player if it requires. They also have six overseas spots left, so they will be looking forward to go for the full monty.
- Chennai Super Kings
When it comes to the most settled units in IPL, then CSK is far ahead from the rest. They usually don’t do changes and sticks to their players, but maybe in the upcoming season, they would go for a change.
Faf du Plessis, to whom CSK has been pretty loyal, can get replaced as the 35-year South African didn’t look up to the mark this year in international cricket and franchise-based leagues.
If CSK goes for Lynn, then he would give a solid start to the team, which can make a game easy for the middle order batsmen like Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni.
