Bangalore have released as many as 10 players ahead of the 2021 edition of the Indian T20 League, which includes stalwarts like Aaron Finch and Moeen Ali. The list includes five foreigners and as many Indians.
Apart from captain Virat Kohli, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dedutt Padikkal, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahmed and Pavan Deshpande have kept their places amongst the Indian contingent. Their foreign quota sees AB de Villiers, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa retaining their spots. Bangalore are also forced to be without Dale Steyn as he intends to take some time off from cricket.
Released: Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Mann, Parthiv Patel
Retained: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Adam Zampa.
Also Read: Indian T20 League 2021: Mumbai release Malinga, Steve Smith not retained
Kolkata retain Dinesh Karthik
Team Kolkata has decided to stick with former captain Dinesh Karthik despite the middle-order batsman's dismal outing in Abu Dhabi last season. Playing 14 matches, Karthik could score only 169 runs with an average of 14.08. Apart from him, Kolkata have decided to retain the services of Kuldeep Yadav as well.
Released: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton
Retained: 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
Hyderabad's core remains
Hyderabad, who finished third last year, have only released five players including the likes of Billy Stanlake and Fabian Allen. None of the two players featured for the team last year. Amongst the Indian players, Yarra Prithviraj, Sanjay Yadav and B Sandeep have been released.
Released: Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Yarra Prithviraj
Retained: 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, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh
Also Read: Chennai retain Suresh Raina, release Harbhajan Singh for Indian T20 League 2021
Alex Carey released from Delhi
Team Delhi, who reached last year's final, has decided to part ways with Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande and Mohit Sharma. Their frontline players, right from captain Shreyas Iyer to Marcus Stoinis have all been retained. In other development, ESPN has reported that Delhi trading Australian left-arm fast bowler Daniel Sams to Bangalore is an all-cash deal. Harshal Patel will also be traded with Bangalore where he spent five seasons between 2012 to 2017.
Released: Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma
Retained: 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
The biggest release of the day is that of all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had a dismal season with Punjab last year. Along with Maxwell, Punjab have also parted ways with Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen and Karun Nair. Releasing these many players means Punjab will have the auction budget of INR 53 crore.
Released: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, Mueeb ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen, Karun Nair
Retained: KL Rahul (c), Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Gayle, Prabhsimran Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Harpreet Brar, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Ishan Porel, Murugan Ashwin, Darshan Nalkande
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Manjunath Kiran
