In this article, we look at which players have been retained or released by their respective franchises ahead of the IPL auction, scheduled to be held on 11 February 2021.
<Contents
Chennai Super Kings:
<Players Released
CSK have released six players: Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Monu Singh.
<Players Retained
The following players will continue to represent CSK in IPL 2021: MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma, KM Asif, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, N Jagadeesan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Kishore, Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Suresh Raina
Ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, CSK have a purse of Rs 22.9 crore ($3 million) to invest in new players.
<Delhi Capitals:
The following six players will not represent Delhi Capitals in the upcoming IPL season: Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Alex Carey, Jason Roy.
<Players Retained
Delhi Capitals will continue to have the following players in their squad for the 2021 league season: Shreyas Iyer(captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Chris Woakes, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Mohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer
Delhi Capitals are left with a sum of Rs 12.8 crore ($1.75 million) to use at the upcoming IPL auction.
<Kolkata Knight Riders:
<Players Released
KKR have dispensed with the services of the following six players ahead of the 2021 season of the IPL: Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, M Siddharth, Tom Banton, Chris Green, Harry Gurney.
<Players Retained
After the release of six players from the squad, KKR will continue to have the services of the following players in the upcoming IPL season: Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins, Prasidh Krishna, Praveen Tambe, Rahul Tripathi, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy
KKR can use their remaining resources of Rs 10.85 crore ($1.5 million) to bid for players at the IPL auction.
<Kings XI Punjab:
<Players Released
The following nine players who featured in the Kings XI Punjab squad in 2020 will no longer be there in the 14th season of the league: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen, Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, Tejinder Singh.
<Players Retained
The release of nine players notwithstanding, Kings XI Punjab will continue with the following players in their squad for the 14th IPL season set to begin later this year: Lokesh Rahul (captain), Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Deepak Hooda, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Sarfaraz Khan
KXIP have Rs 53.2 crore ($7.3 million) to use at the upcoming auction.
<Mumbai Indians:
<Players Released
Mumbai Indians have decided to release the following seven players from their squad ahead of the auction for the IPL 2021 season: Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter Nile, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell McClenaghan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai.
<Players Retained
The following players will continue to represent MI in the upcoming season of the IPL: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult
Mumbai Indians have Rs 15.35 crore ($2.10 million) left to spend.
<Rajasthan Royals:
<Players Released
The following eight players who featured in the Rajasthan Royals squad have been released by the team management ahead of the IPL auction for the 2021 season of the league: Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh.
<Players Retained
RR will continue to consider the following players for selection in IPL 2021: Andrew Tye, Anuj Rawat, Ben Stokes, David Miller, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Kartik Tyagi, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rajasthan Royals have Rs 34.85 crore ($4.75 million) left to spend at the auction.
<Royal Challengers Bangalore:
<Players Released
Royal Challengers Bangalore have decided not to continue with the following 10 players in their squad in the IPL 2021 season: Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Moeen Ali, Parthiv Patel (retired from all forms of cricket), Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana.
<Players Retained
RCB have retained the following players: Virat Kohli(captain), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Joshua Philippe, Kane Richardson, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal
The remaining funds with Royal Challengers Bangalore amount to Rs 35.7 crore ($4.9 million).
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
<Players Released
The following five players will no longer represent Sunrisers Hyderabad when the IPL 2021 season gets underway: Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep and Y Prithvi Raj
<Players Retained
SRH have decided to retain the following players in IPL 2021: Kane Williamson(captain), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Khaleel Ahmed, Manish Pandey, Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddharth Kaul, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Virat Singh, Wriddhiman Saha
Sunrisers Hyderabad can use their remaining funds of Rs 10.75 crore ($1.47 million) to buy new players at the auction of February 11.
| Franchise | Overseas Players Released |
| CSK | Shane Watson |
| DC | Keemo Paul, Alex Carey, Jason Roy, Sandeep Lamichhaane |
| KKR | Tom Banton, Chris Green, Harry Gurney |
| KXIP | Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, James Neesham, Hardus Viljoen |
| MI | Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell McClenaghan |
| RR | Steve Smith, Oshane Thomas, Tom Curran |
| RCB | Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana |
| SRH | Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen |
Conclusion:
There is an opportunity at the auction for franchises to get good bargains by bidding for overseas players released by other franchises. We think the best bargain must be Chris Morris and we are quite surprised that he was released by RCB. Isuru Udana also proved great value for money at IPL 2020. Some other allrounders, such as Chris Green and James Neesham, could prove valuable back up options for some franchises.
We are also surprised that Mumbai Indians have hung on to Chris Lynn who did not play a single match in IPL 2019. Many teams would have been delighted to bid for him at the auction.