As the franchises looked to build their teams for the 2021 edition, there were going to be some players who were going to be released. The IPL auction will be held in the month of February, The franchises also had to make the calls of retention without being sure of the venue of the 2021 season.
Some releases were surprising also because this year was going to be the last season before the big auction happens in 2022.
A look at the money left with IPL franchises after ‘retention day’
The 8 IPL franchises decided the fate of their players on Wednesday (January 20) and announced the list of players who will be back in the auction. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who had qualified for the playoffs of IPL 2020, made a surprising call by offloading 10 players.
Chennai Super Kings
Since the MS Dhoni-led side released the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson, Murali Vijay and others, they now have enough money in their account and can spend Rs 22.9 crore at the auction. Prior to the retention day, they only had a purse of Rs 15 Lakh.
Mumbai Indians
The five-time IPL Champions mostly released their overseas pacers, including Nathan Coulter-Nile. They need to bolster their pace attack and have Rs 15.35 Crore to do so. Lasith Malinga has retired from franchise cricket and will not be part of IPL from now on.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
The Virat Kohli-led side has the second-biggest purse as they released 10 players. The Bangalore-based franchise lag on a number of fronts and can spend up to Rs 35.9 Crore to build a strong team for the upcoming season.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The two-time IPL Champions only released one capped player and surprised the fans by retaining Dinesh Karthik and Kuldeep Yadav. Led by Eoin Morgan, KKR have a balance of Rs 10.75 crore, which might be enough for them to add backups.
Kings XI Punjab
The release of Glenn Maxwell and Sheldon Cotrell saw Kings XI Punjab adding huge money in the purse and they can spend up to Rs 53.2 Crore. Maxwell had rejoined KXIP for Rs 10.75 crore while Cottrell was bought for Rs 8.5 crore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Another team which only released players who aren’t regular in the playing XI, Sunrisers Hyderabad have a purse of Rs 10.75 Crore. Their success heavily on young players and they will need some experienced campaigners for the season.
Delhi Capitals
Apart from releasing six players, Delhi Capitals also traded two players to RCB. They have a purse of Rs 12.9 crore.
Rajasthan Royals
Another team with a big purse ahead of IPL 2021 auction, Rajasthan Royals was the only side to release its captain. While they do have a new captain now – Sanju Samson – they need to cover a number of areas at the auction. RR have a purse of Rs 34.85 Crore.
Details of released player.
Mumbai Indians
The five-time champions have off-loaded almost their entire foreign pace battery save Trent Boult ahead of the 2021 IPL auction. The IPL title-holders have retained only three other foreign players – Kieron Pollard, Quinton de Kock and Chris Lynn. However, they have retained most of their Indian contingent, apart from Prince Balwant Rai Singh and Digvijay Deshmukh.
Released: Mitchell McCleneghan, James Pattinson, Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sherfane Rutherford, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Mohsin Khan, Saurabh Tiwary, Trent Boult
Rajasthan Royals
Sanju Samson will lead the Royals after the franchise opted to release Steve Smith ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, which allows them to add INR 12.5 Crore to their purse for the auction. Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara will join the franchise as the Director of Cricket.
Even as they have released eight players, with a 17-member core retained, they are unlikely to be too busy at the auction.
Released: Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh
Squad: Sanju Samson (c), 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
Slots Remaining:8 (3 overseas)
Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab have released two of their most expensive buys – Glenn Maxwell and Sheldon Cottrell ahead of the 2021 IPL auction. The pair had forgettable seasons with the franchise in the 2020 season. Among foreign players, they have also released James Neesham, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Hardus Viljoen, apart from four Indians.
Released: Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Hardus Viljoen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, Jimmy Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Tajinder Singh.
Squad: KL Rahul (c), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel
Slots Remaining:9 (5 overseas)
Chennai Super Kings
CSK have released six players from their squad ahead of the auction. Shane Watson, who retired from all forms of cricket after the last season of IPL, is the only foreigner to have not been retained by the MS Dhoni-led side. Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay are among those released while Suresh Raina, who missed the 2020 season, has been retained.
Released:Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Monu Singh, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay
Squad: MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Narayan Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore, Sam Curran
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players, which includes 5 foreigners and five Indians ahead of the 2021 IPL auctions. The Virat Kohli-led team will also be without Parthiv Patel, who has retired from IPL and Dale Steyn, who has skipped the tournament this season.
RCB have traded in all-rounders Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel from the Delhi Capitals in an all-cash deal.
Meanwhile, both Adam Zampa and the player he replaced last season, Kane Richardson, have been retained by RCB.
Released: Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann, Parthiv Patel
Squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams (T), Harshal Patel (T)
Slots Remaining:11 (3 overseas)
Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH, who finished third in IPL 2020, have released only five players from their squad ahead of the auction. Billy Stanlake and Fabian Allen, neither of whom played a game for the franchise last season, have been released, while among the Indians, Yarra Prithviraj, Sanjay Yadav and B Sandeep failed to get an extension with the franchise. Prithviraj had come in as a replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar last season after the veteran pacer had suffered an injury early in the tournament.
Released: Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj
Squad: David Warner (c), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh
Slots Remaining: 3 (1 overseas)
Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals have released five players from their squad that reached the final last season, which includes three foreigners and two Indians. With Alex Carey released, they have only one wicketkeeper – Rishabh Pant – retained in the side. DC have also traded all-rounders Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams to RCB in an all-cash deal.
Released: Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Harshal Patel (T), Daniel Sams (T)
Squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes
Slots Remaining: 8 (3 overseas)
Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR will go into the auction with a 17-member squad already available after having released only five players from the team. The two-time champions have released Tom Banton and Chris Green among the foreign players and Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik and M Siddharth among the Indians.
Released: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton, Harry Gurney and Ali Khan.
Squad: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert
Slots Remaining:8 (2 overseas).
