1. Kedar Jadhav
The all-rounder might find to hard to get a deal unless some teams like Kings XI Punjab or Rajasthan Royals want to add a dash of experience to their middle-order after letting go the likes of Karun Nair and Robin Uthappa respectively. Apart from a lukewarm IPL 2020 for Chennai Super Kings, the 35-year-old's fitness too is an issue. The beacon of hope for Kedar is the two fifties he scored for Maharashtra in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, and will that earn him a new contract? We will have to wait.
2. Harbhajan Singh
The veteran off-spinner Harbhajan is the one of the only five bowlers who have crossed the 150-wicket barrier in the IPL. But he had skipped the IPL 2020 held in the UAE for personal reasons. The Chennai Super Kings player is 40. Will any of the teams show interest in him? Tough it may seem as most of the franchises have young spinners in their line-up. A quiet end to one of the best IPL performers then?
3. Piyush Chawla
The leg-spinner had a modest season for Chennai Super Kings, taking 6 wickets from 7 games and conceded more than 9 runs per over in the IPL 2020. However, Chawla is the third highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 156 scalps. Can his pedigree earn him a contract for IPL 2021? He will also have to do that anxious wait.
4. M Vijay
Here's another Chennai Super Kings player. Vijay played just three matches and scored 32 runs at a shade over 10 at a strike-rate of 74.41. However, Vijay has scored more than 2000 runs in the IPL and remains one of those batsmen who has two hundreds in the competition. He will hope that a good past will lead to a bright future. But at 36, Vijay will also need a slice of fortune for teams to cast a favourable eye towards him.
5. Karun Nair
Karun Nair is going through a lean patch and that is a massive understatement. He has not scored many runs for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL 2020 and endured a barren run for Karnataka too in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20. From four matches, he scored 16 runs for KXIP in IPL 2020 and 15 of them came in one innings. His highest T20 score this season is 27 made in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and it may just that Karun, once a triple centurion in Test cricket, will have to watch IPL 2021 from his living room couch.