New Delhi: Yuvraj Singh was on Thursday released by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the Indian Premier League auction next month while Rajasthan Royals let go left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat after paying a whopping Rs 11.5 crore for his services earlier this year.
Delhi Daredevils expectedly released Gautam Gambhir, who stepped down in the middle of the 2018 season after a poor run of form. Yuvraj, who last played for India in June 2017, was bought by KXIP at a base price of Rs 2 crore at the mega auction held in January. Chris Gayle, who too was lapped up by KXIP at his base price of Rs 2 crore, has been expectedly retained after a productive run in the 2018 edition.
The deadline to retain players ended on Thursday. Royals released Unadkat but retained their another million dollar buy Ben Stokes. The had paid a whopping Rs 12.5 crore for the premier England all-rounder. Senior Australian batsman Steve Smith has been retained after missing the 2018 IPL due to the suspension. Apart from Unadkat, the other players released by Royals are Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma and Jatin Saxena.
Sunrisers Hyderabad has dumped injured Wriddhiman Saha along with West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite. Apart from Gambhir, Delhi also released Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann and Naman Ojha.
The retained Delhi players include captain Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Amit Mishra and teen sensation Prithvi Shaw, who made his IPL debut in the previous edition.
Mumbai Indians have retained 18 players but released some top international stars like JP Duminy and fast bowling duo of Pat Cummins and Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman. The franchise has also released 10 players which include one capped, five uncapped and four international cricketers. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande, Aditya Tare, Ishan Kisan, Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy and Suryakumar Yadav have been retained by the three-time champions.
To maintain the mix of experience and youth, the franchise has also retained Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, destructive opener Evin Lewis and Kiwi pair of Mitchell McClenaghan and Adam Milne. The management has also backed Australia’s T20 specialist Jason Behrendorff after the left-arm quick was recalled to the national side to face the Proteas.