CHRIS GAYLE (KXIP)

Chris Gayle was released from the Royal Challengers Bangalore team after spending 7 years of success with the team where he broke many records with the bat. Though at 39 years of age, Gayle had slowed down quite a bit in the field, Kings XI Punjab finally bought him in the final round of auction, after no one bid for him.

This proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Punjab franchise, as he blasted off a century and two fifties in the first few matches for the team, enabling them to win 5 out of the six matches at the start. He ended up playing just 11 matches and made only 368 runs despite the century.

Given that he isn't getting any younger and will be close to 40 years old when the IPL 2019 rolls in, it was speculated that Chris Gayle won’t be retained by the KXIP franchise.

KXIP instead released Australian Aaron Finch, who might have been a better option to the aging Gayle. Finch is the only player to hit two 150 plus scores in T20I cricket and wasn't used well by the franchise in IPL 2018.

But Gayle has been surprisingly retained by the franchise in hopes of repeating the tactic used by CSK, cunningly using their aged players in important matches.