The Indian Premier League 2021 auctions are set to take place next month and in accordance with that, the franchises have started the retention process. There have been quite a few surprising calls and bold decisions made by the management in awe of the upcoming IPL season.
Cricwizz takes you through the list of the players that have retained and released by the IPL franchises.
Rajasthan Royals (RR)
In what comes as a shocking decision by the management, their skipper and ace batsman Steve Smith has been released from the side, and youngster Sanju Samson has been named as the captain.
The other releases being- Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh
Remaining purse- 34 crore
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been released by the Chennai Super Kings. The veteran took it upto Twitter to thank the team and also confirmed his contract termination with the yellow army.
Released players- Piyush Chawla, Kedar Jadhav, Murali Vijay, Monu Singh, Shane Watson (retirement).
Remaining purse- 22.9 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
RCB have released close to 12 players from their squad which includes the likes of- Aaron Finch, Umesh Yadav, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Pavan Negi, Parthiv Patel, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Chris Morris, Gurkeerat Singh Mann.
Remaining purse- 35.2 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Kolkata Knight Riders have retained their skipper Eoin Morgan ahead of the 2021 season and have also released their foreign opener- Tom Banton. It does look likely for the two times champions to feature almost the same squad as of IPL 13.
List of the released players - Siddhesh Lad, Chris Gree, Nikhil Naik, and Harry Gurney.
Remaining purse- 10.8 crore
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
Sunrisers on the other side have retained most of their players. The decision maybe because of the excellent show the team showcased in the last season. The management though decided to release 5 players- Sanjay Yadav, B. Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj.
Remaining purse- 10.7 crore
Delhi Capitals (DC)
The big names that have been released by the Capitals are Jason Roy and Alex Carey. Apart from these two changes, the Capitals have also decided to leave out Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, and Mohit Sharma.
This does suggest that Delhi Capitals will be looking to strengthen their bowling line-up in the upcoming auctions along with a foreign batsman.
Remaining purse- 12.8 crore
Kings Xl Punjab (KXIP)
The Punjab side have dropped their star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell owing to a poor show in the last season of the Indian Premier League. The KL Rahul side though decided to retain three International players which include the West Indian hard-hitter Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, and English all-rounder Chris Jordan.
The other players released by KXIP are James Neesham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, and South African pacer Hardus Viojen.
Remaning purse- 53 crore
Mumbai Indians (MI)
The only player to be released by the five-time champions is the Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga. The 37-year old was not part of the MI squad last season as he decided to pull out due to personal reasons.
As per the latest report the Indian Premier League 2021 is set to take place on February 11th. The auction does promise to be an intriguing one with many talents in the reserve waiting to make it to the grand stage.
Remaining purse- 15.5 crore
Stay tuned with Cricwizz for further updates on the upcoming Indian Premier League 2021.
Cover Credits: IPLT20
