Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday revealed their list of retained players ahead of the Indian Premier League 2023 Auction. The franchise has retained a total of 16 players, which includes 12 Indians and four players from overseas, and released nine players in total - comprising four Indians and five overseas players. The franchise has retained their captain Sanju Samson, England's T20 World Cup-winning skipper Jos Buttler, Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, experienced New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, Indian internationals Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna and Devdutt Padikkal, along with West Indies' destructive batter Shimron Hetmyer and bowler Obed McCoy.


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Young Indian stars Kuldeep Sen, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag have been retained, as have left-arm fast bowler Kuldip Yadav, spinner KC Cariappa and wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel.


Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara commented on his team's thinking behind the retention process, while also revealing how tough it was for the franchise to make some decisions after the Royals finished as Runners Up in the last edition.


He said, "We obviously had a brilliant season last year but fell short in the end in the Final. The team that we've had has been extraordinary in each department, and we are delighted at the prospect of retaining the core group which has contributed immensely to the success of this franchise. At the same time, as a high performance team, you have to keep evolving and looking for squad enhancing opportunities in order to stay at the top. Our ambition is to go that extra mile in IPL 2023, and hence some decisions have been made which give us greater flexibility in the Auction to compete with other teams and go for players who we feel can add value to this squad."


"As you can imagine, we are of course gutted that we're having to let go of some of the players who have been an important part of our set-up last season, both on and off the field, and we want to take this opportunity to thank them for their immense contribution to the Royals. We wish them all the best for what's to come, and hope to cross paths with them soon."


Retained- Indians: Sanju Samson, Ravichandra Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Kuldip Yadav, KC Cariappa, Dhruv Jurel


Overseas: Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Obed McCoy


Released- Indians: Karun Nair, Anunay Singh, Tejas Baroka, Shubham Garhwal,


Overseas: James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch


Punjab Kings


Punjab Kings have released their former skipper Mayank Agarwal, West Indies bowling all-rounder Odean Smith and some other players for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Agarwal, who was the mainstay of the side's top-order from 2019-21 and scored well, could only score 196 runs in 12 innings at an average of 16.33 and a strike rate of 122.50 since he was appointed the captain in 2022.


As per ESPNCricinfo, Shahrukh Khan, who was earlier reported to be among the ones to get released, has been retained. Punjab has also retained many of its core stars like skipper Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow (England), Bhanuka Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, England's hard-hitting batter Liam Livingstone, young Indian bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar.


Punjab Kings still have a power-packed batting lineup, with Bairstow and Dhawan as possible openers. Their bowling also looks solid with the likes of Chahar, Arshdeep and Kagiso Rabada. They have INR 32.2 crore in their purse, along with three slots for overseas players.


Punjab Kings:


Players released: Mayank Agarwal, Odean Smith, Vaibhav Arora, Benny Howell, Ishan Porel, Ansh Patel, Prerak Mankad, Sandeep Sharma, Writtick Chatterjee


Current squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar


In the last season, Punjab Kings had finished at the sixth position in the points table with 14 points and seven wins in 14 matches.