IPL Replacements: Smith's loss to be Root's gain, Sunrisers in a fix between Tamim and Guptill

If Sunrisers does decide to chose Tamim then will bag him at just INR 50 lakhs, which was his base price.

Like Guptill, the Bangladesh opener also went unsold in the auctions this year but his form in the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy, where he scored 154 runs at an average of 30.80 makes him the front-runner to take Warner’s spot.

According to sources, Tamim has his nose slightly ahead, because of his abilities to handle spin better.

Guptill last turned up for Kings XI Punjab, is considered to be one of the lustiest hitters of the cricket ball, particularly in the shorter formats. His IPL numbers (189 runs in 10 matches) however, speak very little of his enormous hitting prowess.

Sunrisers have zeroed in on two overseas opening batsmen – New Zealand’s Martin Gutpill and Bangladesh left-hander Tamim Iqbal.

Surnrisers on the other hand are in a fix. They are yet to take a call about their next captain and are also stuck in deciding Warner’s replacement, who has been a prolific run scorer for them for the last three seasons.

In accordance with IPL’s player regulations, Royals will pick up Root, who is in the Registered and Available Player Pool (RAPP) for his base price of INR 1.5 crore.

Root, who went unsold in the IPL auctions, is a like-for-like replacement for Smith. Even though he has very little experience of playing T20 cricket in India, his laurels for England speak for himself.

England captain Joe Root, who had made himself available for IPL first time in his career, is the frontrunner to take Smith’s place in Royals.

In the decision making process, Rajasthan Royals appears to be in a better place than Sunrisers as they have already named Ajinkya Rahane as their captain and according to sources, have also finalized Smith’s replacement.

Therefore, both the franchises would want someone who can fill the gap not only with his batting but also with his leadership skills.

Both Smith and Warner were not only the captains of Royals and Sunrisers but they were also their premiere batsmen at the top of the order.

The IPL Governing Council’s decision of barring Steve Smith and David Warner for this season has thrown up an interesting question in front of the Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Who will replace Smith and Warner?