Rashid Khan keen to be SRH’s No. 1 retention; franchise has Kane Williamson as top priority: Report

master

November 26, 2021

KEY STORY

If there’s one franchise that will be extremely happy to be heading into the mega-auction in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, it’s Sunrisers Hyderabad. The 2016 champions didn’t just finish bottom of the points table in the IPL 2021 season but also struggled to field a team that could compete with the rest for a spot in the playoffs.
The David Warner sacking fiasco kept Sunrisers in the news for the entire season, and now the team has another headache to resolve over their No. 1 retention ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. Though Hyderabad aren’t expected to retain more than two players (four is the maximum limit), the issue over their No. 1 retention is a huge one.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, the franchise bosses want Kane Williamson to be their first retention and Rashid Khan the second. The order in which they are picked will have its bearing on the salaries the players will earn. Rashid, however, isn’t happy with the decision and wants himself to be picked first by the franchise.
Rashid remains one of the best T20 bowlers in world cricket. He has arguably been the most consistent player for Sunrisers over the last 2-3 years. Williamson, on the other hand, will be the franchise’s skipper and has a reputation of being one of the most sought-after leaders in the sport.
The question over the order in which they are picked wouldn’t have been problematic had there not been a huge gap between No. 1 and No. 2 players that the franchise picks. To be precise, the difference between the salaries of these players will be INR 4 crore.
The franchise bosses are reportedly trying hard to pen a bargain deal with Rashid. They have until November 30 to convince the Afghan spinner, else, he will be going into the auction pool.
With the new franchises, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, looking for opportunities like these, it is quite likely that one of them will pick Rashid before the auction and make him one of their top-earning players.
The likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, David Warner, Hardik Pandya, etc. are expected to be released by their respective franchises too. Will Rashid joined this list or not, remains to be seen.