IPL 2021: MI bid goodbye to Malinga, Samson to lead Royals after Smith's exit

The eight Indian Premier League (IPL) teams on Wednesday announced the names of the players that have been retained by their respective franchises. Several players, including veteran Sri Lanka cricketer Lasith Malinga, former Australia skipper Steve Smith, T20 star Glenn Maxwell, were among others who were let go by their respective franchises.  

Among the Indians, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Vijay, Kedhar Jadhav have also been released by Chennai Super Kings, while the Yellow Army have shown faith in former India batsman Suresh Raina and team skipper M S Dhoni for yet another season.

Here are the squads of all eight teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Renowned for their failure to perform on the big stage, Royal Challengers Bangalore did some major reshuffle in their line-up. The franchise released ten players, which included South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris and Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch. 

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals have traded Australian pacer Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel to RCB. The move comes after Sams returned wicketless in the previous edition. But the good news for RCB is that the Australian has been in fine form in the ongoing Big Bash League and has been contributing with the bat and the ball.  

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

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, Harshal Patel  

Purse Remaining: Rs 35.7 crore

Slots Remaining: 13 (4 overseas)

Sunrisers Hyderabad 

SRH has been the most consistent team over the past few years. The team finished third in IPL 2020 and going into the mini-auction the franchise released only five players from their core squad.

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

Purse Remaining: Rs 10.75 cr.

Slots Remaining: 3 (1 overseas) 

Delhi Capitals 

The previous edition's runners-up Delhi Capitals also showed great faith in their core unit and released just five players from their squad. Alex Carey, the team's second-choice wicketkeeper was also released from the squad, leaving Rishabh Pant as the only candidate for the position. 

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

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

Purse Remaining: INR 12.8 cr.

Slots Remaining: 6 (2 overseas) 

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders, too, have released five players from their squad. An hour before the list of the retained players was announced by the franchise, KKR shared a video on Twitter where skipper Eoin Morgan stated that it would have been "brilliant" if the team had stuck with the original squad that took part in the previous edition.  

Morgan on KKR’s Retention Wishlist: “Would be brilliant if we could keep everyone together.”

Agree with skipper @Eoin16 about retaining the core?#KKR #IPLRetention pic.twitter.com/YfmFgf5KiR

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) January 20, 2021

Released: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton

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, Ali Khan, Tim Seifert

Purse Remaining: Rs 10.85 cr.

Slots Remaining: 7 (1 overseas) 

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals surprised everyone by releasing Smith after the franchise finished bottom in the eight-team points table in the previous edition. Along with the Australian, the team also let go of Windies pacer Oshane Thomas, England bowler Tom Curran, and Varun Aaron. 

In another development, Royals appointed Sanju Samson as their new skipper and Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara as the team director. 

A new chapter begins now. 

Say hello to your Royals captain. #SkipperSanju | #HallaBol | #IPL2021 | #IPLRetention | @IamSanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/pukyEiyb1B

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) January 20, 2021

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

Purse Remaining: Rs 34.85 cr.

Slots Remaining: 8 (3 overseas)  

Kings XI Punjab

After a disappointing outing in UAE, Kings XI Punjab decided to let go of Maxwell and Sheldon Cottrell for the upcoming edition. However, the team for the first time has shown faith in their coach as Anil Kumble will continue to take charge in that role for the IPL franchise. 

Meanwhile, Kiwi all-rounder James Neesham, who got very little game time in the last edition, was also released from the squad.

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

Purse Remaining: Rs 53.2 cr.

Slots Remaining: 9 (5 overseas) 

Chennai Super Kings

After failing to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in IPL, a lot of reshuffles were expected in the Chennai Super Kings camp. The team released six players, which include veteran off-spinner Harbhajan, Jadhav, Piyush Chawla, and Vijay. Meanwhile, Shane Watson is the only foreign cricketer that was not retained by the CSK unit. 

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

Purse Remaining: Rs 22.9 cr.

Slots Remaining: 7 (1 overseas) 

Mumbai Indians 

Defending champions Mumbai Indians released Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga bringing an end to an era. The Lankan seamer made a total of 122 appearances for the Mumbai unit in which he scalped 170 wickets. He has also been a part of Mumbai's four-title winning run and his famous final over against CSK in the 2019 finale will always be cherished by the cricket fans.  

Apart from Malinga, the team also let go of Kiwi quick Mitchell McClenaghan, Australian Nathan Coulter-Nile, and his countryman James Pattinson, among others.

Mumbai, who have lifted the IPL trophy for a record five-time, now have seven spots open, making them eligible to pick four overseas players in the auction that is scheduled to be held next month. 

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

Purse Remaining: Rs 15.35 cr.

Slots Remaining: 7 (4 overseas)