The build to the upcoming IPL 2020 started with the closing of trading window on Friday. All the teams finalized their retained and released players to finalize their team going into the IPL auction next month in Kolkata.
Royal Challengers Bangalore had a poor outing ever since they reached the finals of 2016 IPL where they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Bengaluru based franchise released 12 players which is the most by any team this year. They will have slots to fill for the overseas players as they have released some power hitters like Shimron Hetmyer, Colin de Grandhomme, Marcus Stoinis and Heinrich Klaasen.
Kings XI Punjab released 7 players but they are left with the maximum amount in their purse and are expected to go full monty in the auction. The most consistent teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have retained their core team and they are now left with a purse of under 20 crores only. The Rohit Sharma led team released 12 players from their squad which includes the likes of Yuvraj Singh and hard hitting Caribbean batsman Evin Lewis.
Chennai Super Kings released five players including Dhruv Shorey, Mohit Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi, David Willey and Sam Billings. 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad released five players which includes Shakib al Hasan who is currently serving a ban imposed by ICC. Shakib was supposedly contacted by bookmakers while playing in the 2018 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series and also in a group match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab in the 2018 Indian Premier League . For failing to report those approaches made to him by the bookmakers, he was found guilty of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code 2.4.4 and was handed a two-year ban, one year being suspended. He is supposed to be able to resume international cricket on 29 October 2020.
2 times champions Kolkata Knight Riders may also build their team from scratch as they have released 11 players alongside Rajasthan Royals.
Here is the full list of players released by the franchise teams-
KKR- Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Piyush Chawla, Joe Denly, Yarra Prithviraj, Nikhil Naik, KC Cariappa, Matthew Kelly, Shrikant Mundhe and Carlos Brathwaite
KXIP- Sam Curran, David Miller, Varun Chakravarthy, Andrew Tye, Agnivesh Ayachi, Moises Henriques, Agnivesh Ayachi
RCB– Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetymer, Akshdeep Nath, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin de Grandhomme, Prayas Ray Barman, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Himmat Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Milind Kumar, Dale Steyn
RR- Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, Shubham Ranjane, Prashant Chopra, Ish Sodhi, Aryaman Birla, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny, Liam Livingstone, Sudheshan Midhun
MI– Yuvraj Singh, Evin Lewis, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff, Barinder Sran, Ben Cutting, Pankaj Jaiswal, Alzarri Joseph and Beuran Hendricks (injured), Rasikh Salam(banned by BCCI for age frauding), Mayank Markande and Siddhesh Lad (Traded to other teams).
SRH– Shakib al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Martin Guptill, Deepak Hooda and Ricky Bhui.
CSK- Dhruv Shorey, Mohit Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi, David Willey and Sam Billings
DC– Hanuma Vihari, Jalaj Saxena, Manjot Kalra, Ankush Bains, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayappa, Chris Morris, Colin Ingram, Colin Munro.
