RCB release Finch, Morris; KXIP let go of Maxwell

Steve Smith, Lasith Malinga, Glenn Maxwell and Chris Morris are among the big-name players released by the eight franchises on Wednesday (January 20) ahead of the 2021 IPL auction, which is set to take place in February.

While Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players, the most by any franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders have let go of only five each. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals have also made two big announcements on the day - appointing Sanju Samson as the captain and Kumar Sangakkara as the director of cricket.

Delhi Capitals and RCB have also been involved in an all-cash trade with all-rounders Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel moving to the Virat Kohli-led side. With the trading window still open, retained players could still move across squads before the auction.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players, which includes 5 foreigners and five 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 has skipped the tournament this season.

RCB have traded in all-rounders Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel from the Delhi Capitals in an all-cash deal.

Meanwhile, both Adam Zampa and the player he replaced last season, Kane Richardson, have been retained by RCB.

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

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 (T), Harshal Patel (T)

Slots Remaining:11 (3 overseas)

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 Indians, Yarra Prithviraj, Sanjay Yadav and B Sandeep failed to get an extension with the franchise. Prithviraj had come in as a replacement for Bhuvneshwar Kumar last season after the veteran pacer had suffered an injury early in the tournament.

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

Slots Remaining: 3 (1 overseas)

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. DC have also traded all-rounders Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams to RCB in an all-cash deal.

Released: Alex Carey, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Harshal Patel (T), Daniel Sams (T)

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

Slots Remaining: 8 (3 overseas)

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.

Released: M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, Chris Green, Tom Banton, Harry Gurney and Ali Khan.

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, Tim Seifert

Slots Remaining:8 (2 overseas)

Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson will lead the Royals after the franchise opted 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.

Even as they have released eight players, with a 17-member core retained, they are unlikely to be too busy at the auction.

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

Slots Remaining:9 (3 overseas)

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: 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

Slots Remaining:9 (5 overseas)

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: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, Robin Uthappa (T)

Slots Remaining: 6 (1 overseas)

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: 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

Slots Remaining:7 (4 overseas)

* (T) = Traded Player* Purse amounts to be confirmed for franchises by IPL GC.