New Delhi: Fifty-seven players have been released by eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises ahead of the 2021 auction, to be held next month. They include Mumbai Indians' fast bowling great Lasith Malinga, former Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, and Kings XI Punjab all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have released the most number of players, 10, though it is noteworthy that among them are wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel, who announced his retirement from all cricket recently, and veteran South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, who had opted out of the IPL in the first week of this month.
Delhi Capitals said in a statement that they have traded all-rounders Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams to RCB. They are, however, yet to name the players that would possibly come from RCB as part of the trading window, which is open until about a week before the auction. The Indian cricket board is yet to announce the auction date.
Full list of retained and released players:
Rajasthan Royals:
Retained players: Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa
Released Players: Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh
Delhi Capitals:
Retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin, Lalit Yadav, Avesh Khan, Pravin Dubey, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Woakes
Released: Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Alex Carey, Jason Roy
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Retained: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson, Pawan Deshpande
Released: Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn (opted out), Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann, Parthiv Patel (retired)
Mumbai Indians: