IPL Retention & release list and Team budget for auction 2021

As many as 56 cricketers were released by various franchises during the IPL retention process on Wednesday, January 20. Big names like Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris, Steve Smith, Lasith Malinga, Moeen Ali and Jimmy Neesham were among the players released by the 8 franchises.

Royal Challengers Bangalore released the most players – numbering 10, while Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders were keen on retaining the core as they released just 5 players each.

Let us take a look at each team and their structure after the releases.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players, which includes 5 foreigners and 5 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 is unavailable this season.

Released Players: 

Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann, Parthiv Patel

Squad/Retained Players: 

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, Harshal Patel (traded from DC), Daniel Sams (traded from DC)

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 35.3 cr

Slots Remaining: 11
Overseas slots Remaining: 3

Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson will lead the Royals after the franchise decided 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.

Released Players:

 Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh

Squad/Retained Players:  

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

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 34.85 cr.

Players Remaining: 8
Overseas slots Remaining: 3

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.

Released Players:

 Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy

Squad/Retained Players: 

 Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Daniels Sams, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 12.8 cr.

Players Remaining: 6
Overseas slots Remaining: 2

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. They will be going to the upcoming auction with a 17-member squad already available.

Released Players: 

Manimaran Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton

Squad/Retained Players: 

 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, Ali Khan, Tim Seifert

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 10.85 cr.

Players Remaining: 7
Overseas slots Remaining: 1

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 domestic players, Yarra Prithviraj (replaced injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Sanjay Yadav and Bavanaka Sandeep failed to get an extension with the franchise. Amidst rumors circulating on social media regarding Kane Williamson trade to CSK – the Orange Army retained him!

Released Players:

Sanjay Yadav, Bavanaka Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj

Squad/Retained Players: 

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

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 10.75 cr.

Players Remaining: 3
Overseas slots Remaining: 1

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 Players: 

Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Hardus Viljoen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, Jimmy Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Tajinder Singh.

Squad/Retained Players: 

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

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 53.2 cr.

Players Remaining: 9
Overseas slots Remanining: 5

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 Players:

Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Monu Singh, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay

Squad/Retained Players:  

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

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 22.9 cr.

Players Remaining: 7
Overseas slots Remaining: 1

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 Players: 

Mitchell McCleneghan, James Pattinson, Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sherfane Rutherford, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh

Squad/Retained Players:  

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

Purse Remaining for Auction: INR 15.35 cr.

Players Remaining: 7
Overseas slots Remaining: 4