With the IPL just two weeks away, most IPL teams are contemplating what the right mix of players is for the upcoming Season so that the teams consists of the right balance. Most IPL teams will be formulating the player that they need and the ones they will have to go for tooth and nail. While most of the teams have retained their captain and most of the core players, some have been rather skeptical about their current squad and have chosen to release more players than the others.
The list of players available for auction was released earlier, we at the Sportsrush try to bring to you a quick refresher ahead of IPL auction 2017. The auction will be held on 20th January 2017 in Bengaluru.
Here is a complete list of all the players that have been released and retained by the IPL teams ahead of IPL Auction 2017:
Delhi Daredevils
Despite lagging in the previous edition of IPL and finishing on 6th spot, Delhi Daredevils have not tinkered with their team much. The squad retains the core players who for large parts of the 2016 season performed admirably and even exceeded expectations. Not only have they retained their young players who are gelled in the team environment well but have also let go players who didn’t quite fit in.
This is why, Pawan Negi who was the hottest pick for the 2016 auction has been has been released. Imran Tahir who is considered as one of the specialist T20 bowlers has also been released to find a better balance in the squad. With a largely settled squad, they will look to plug the few holes that they have in the upcoming Auction.
Players Retained: Jean-Paul Duminy, Mohammad Shami, Quinton de Kock, Karun Nair, Sam Billings, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Rishabh Pant, CV Milind, Khaleel Ahmed, Pratyush Singh.
Released players: Imran Tahir, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Joel Paris, Pawan Negi, Pawan Suyal, Akhil Herwadkar, Mahipal Lomror
Purse spent: INR 44.50 crore
Purse remaining: INR 21.50 crore
Gujarat Lions
Gujarat Lions made a splendid start to their IPL journey by finishing in the top Four. Their team seemed to be settled and as expected they did not make radical changes to their squad. They have retained most of their Domestic stars and the foreign players who helped them earn a place in the playoffs.
Their biggest release was that of Dale Steyn but the fact that he just had a shoulder injury and hasn’t been a regular in the Proteas limited-overs set-up meant that wasn’t surprising. But the fact that they let several of their Indian players go (7 to be precise) will mean that they need some quality Indian additions, especially in the batting department.
Players Retained: Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner, Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Andrew Tye, Ishan Kishan, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivil Kaushik, Shadab Jakati and Jaydev Shah.
Released players: Dale Steyn, Paras Dogra, Eklavya Dwivedi, Sarbjeet Ladda, Pravin Tambe, Umang Sharma, Amit Mishra, Akshdeep Nath.
Purse spent: INR 51.65 crore
Purse remaining: INR 14.35 crore
Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab had a horrible season last year. They managed only 4 wins out of their 14 encounters. Despite this they have retained most of their players and released only 4 players in the auction pool.
With a strong batting line up and an experienced bowling line-up the Kings are expected to play much better in this year’s edition. With the most money of any side going into IPL Auction 2017, they certainly have the cash to go for the players that they need.
Players Retained: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Axar Patel, Murali Vijay, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Hashim Amla.
Released players: Mitchell Johnson, Rishi Dhawan, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien
Purse spent: INR 42.65 crore
Purse remaining: INR 23.35 crore
Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders have been one of the most settled sides in the IPL. They have been consistent and have stuck to the strategy of reposing faith in their senior players. However they have decided to bring in a lot of changes in this year’s edition. This is evident from the fact that they have released six foreigners, including four pacers. The team now heavily relies on Umesh Yadav and Ankit Rajpoot as their pace bowling options.
Andre Russell’s unavailability due to a one year ban imposed on him will also be a big blow to KKR’s overall strategy. Andre has been a sensation with both ball and bat for the Knights. Although their batting looks solid on paper and have a lot of variation in the spinning department, they don’t have many option in the death bowling option. We might see the team bidding for some talent in this regard to plug the gaps in their side.
Players Retained: Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Andre Russell, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Shakib Al Hasan, Chris Lynn, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Sheldon Jackson, Ankit Singh Rajpoot.
Released players: Morne Morkel, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Colin Munro, John Hastings, Jaydev Unadkat, Rajagopal Satish, Manan Sharma, Shaun Tait
Purse spent: INR 46.25 crore
Purse remaining: INR 19.75 crore
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2009 edition of IPL. Despite this fact they have retained the most number of players. One of the most consistent sides in IPL history, Mumbai Indians have let go two of their most destructive Kiwi players in Corey Anderson and Martin Guptill.
Going into this year’s auction, Mumbai Indians have the smallest purse. Therefore they have to be very careful about who they splash their cash on. However with a squad which has covered most of its base, going into auction should not be difficult. One or two smart picks will be enough for Mumbai to build a strong team.
Players Retained: Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, R Vinay Kumar, Mitchell McClenghan, J Suchith, Siddesh Lad, Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana, Tim Southee, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Punia.
Released players: Martin Guptill, Corey Anderson, Marchant de Lange, Unmukt Chand, Akshay Wakhare, Nathu Singh, Kishore Pramod Kamath, Jerome Taylor.
Purse spent: INR 54.445 crore
Purse remaining: INR 11.550 crore
Rising Pune Supergiants
Rising Pune Super giants have released most of their players for the upcoming auctions. This was expected because the team finished second from bottom in their maiden season last year.
While the omission of Kevin Pietersen was surprising, the fact that he ruled himself out of contention for this year’s tournament means the right call was made after all.
With a strong batting line-up that features some quality overseas players, it is in the bowling and all-rounder department that MS Dhoni’s side will need to make a move for. Especially considering the fact that seven of the 11 players that they released provided an option with the ball.
Players Retained: MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh, Ashik Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar and Usman Khawaja
Released players: Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, RP Singh, Scott Boland, Murugan Ashwin, Peter Handscomb, Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel, George Bailey.
Purse spent: INR 46.90 crore
Purse remaining: INR 19.10 crore
Royal Challengers Bangalore
While no team has retained more players than Royal Challengers Bangalore, only one team has released more than them as well. While RCB have kept hold of the majority of their squad that got them to the IPL final, they also let go of a few they didn’t think fit in as well.
Key Players that have been released by them in this year’s auction pool are Chris Jordan, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, and Varun Aaron. Jordan had the ability to pick crucial wickets but this was overshadowed by his tendency to leak runs. With stark all set to play in this year’s IPL, the RCB need not worry about the death bowling alternative. However they are in dire need of another quality pace bowler who can complement starc well.
Players Retained: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Sarfaraz Khan, Sreenath Arvind, Kedar Jadhav, Stuart Binny,Samuel Badree, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Iqbal Abdullah, KL Rahul, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Released players: Chris Jordan, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, V Malik, P Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Vikas Tokas, Parveez Rasool, Varun Aaron.
Purse spent: INR 53.17 crore
Purse remaining: INR 12.82 crore
Sunrisers Hyderabad
On the back of David Warner’s exploits with the bat and the left-arm pace duo of Ashish Nehra and Mustafizur Rahman with the ball, Sunrisers Hyderabad won their maiden IPL title in 2016 and have unsurprisingly decided to hold onto the bulk of their squad.
Yuvraj Singh, who only played towards the latter half of the 2016 season will almost seem like a new signing for SRH, who have plenty of depth in both batting and pace bowling department. One area in which they don’t is spin and having let go of Karn Sharma, they will look to sign a quality spinner who will complete their line-up. As one of only three teams with over Rs. 20 crores ahead of the auction, they certainly have plenty of cash to afford the best.
Players Retained: Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Mustafizur Rahman, Naman Ojha, Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson, Siddarth Kaul, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Barinder Sran, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar
Released players: Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Eoin Morgan, Tirumalasetti Suman, Aditya Tare
Purse spent: INR 45.10 crore
Purse remaining: INR 20.90 crore
