The Indian Premier League (IPL) trade window was shut down on Friday, November 15.
Besides the trade window, the teams also had to submit the list of retained and released players.
A total of 71 players were released by the eight teams taking part in the global T20 league.
The tournament’s 13th edition is still a few months away but the franchises were hard at work already during the players’ transfer window of the cash-rich league. The likes of Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders were the five teams which swapped players between themselves during the trading window.
Also, the interest shifted towards the players released by teams ahead of next month’s auction to be held in Kolkata. There were some big names that were released by franchises ahead of IPL 2020 auction. Some sides went big in terms of chopping down their squads. Teams will now be needing to frame a new vision.
In this article, we look at the trade window for teams and also the complete list of players released by the franchises ahead of the new season.
Here’s how the trade window shaped up
Champions Mumbai Indians were busy in the trade window and were involved in swapping players. The likes of Mayank Markande and Siddesh Lad were traded to Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, the biggest coup done by MI was in the form of speedster Trent Boult, who arrived from Delhi Capitals. The pace-friendly franchise also roped in the experienced Dhawal Kulkarni from the Royals and got Sherfane Rutherford from DC to bolster their outlook.
The major surprise was Markande being let go off. He played two seasons for MI – 2018 and 2019 – picking up 16 wickets from 17 matches at an average of 26.68 which also included a four-wicket haul. However, that can be seen as a big gain for RR.
Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals were the joint-second most active franchise in the transfer window along with the Royals, and offloaded the maximum number of players out of all the others.
They sold the likes of Boult, Rutherford, Jagadeesha Suchith and Rahul Tewatia and pulled off two important players in their squad for the next season in return. R Ashwin was brought onboard earlier this month from Kings XI Punjab while Ajinkya Rahane became their latest acquisition.
KXIP let go off Ankit Rajpoot in the transfer window and got on board Krisnappa Gowtham and Jagadeesha Suchith. RR got Rajpoot and Tewatia, besides Markande. Lastly, KKR got in MI’s Siddesh Lad.
Complete list of players released by the IPL franchises
Besides 71 players being released, a total of 127 players (including 35 foreigners) were retained by the eight participating teams of the domestic cricket’s biggest extravaganza – the IPL.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
RCB will have plenty of work to do in the upcoming auction after releasing 11 players that include a host of star foreigners. The Virat Kohli-led side has been dismal of late and has serious work in hand.
It will once again be a re-building job after things went haywire in IPL 2019. With a new management on offer, RCB need a wise sense of recruitment policy to better themselves in the tourney.
Full list of players released by RCB: Akshdeep Nath, Grandhomme, Steyn, Heinrich Klassen, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Marcus Stoinis, Milind Kumar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prayas Ray Barman, Shimron Hetmyer and Tim Southee.
Rajasthan Royals
The Royals went big and released a total of 11 players. The franchise will need to chalk out a plan after departing with star batsman Rahane in the trade window. It will be serious work for RR, who need to bolster their batting at large and also look to enhance their bowling as well. The surprise move was to release Ashton Turner.
Full list of players released by RR: Aryaman Birla, Ashton Turner, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Oshane Thomas, Prashant Chopra, Rahul Tripathi, Shubham Ranjane, Stuart Binny, S Midhun.
Mumbai Indians
IPL 2019 champions Mumbai Indians have all bases covered and retained the core. However, they did away with many foreign pacers. As mentioned above, they got in three pace options in the trade window and that prompted them to release a core of pacers. One expects a more decisive approach in the auction.
Full list of players released by MI: Adam Milne, Alzarri Joseph, Barinder Sran, Ben Cutting, Beuran Hendricks, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendorff, Pankaj Jaswal, Rasikh Dar, Yuvraj Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Eastern giants KKR surprised one and all after releasing star players from their roster. The biggest move was to release Australia’s Chris Lynn. He was an integral part of the KKR set-up in last three seasons. Besides Lynn, veterans Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa were released as well.
All-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, who was bought for a hefty sum last season, was let go off as well.
Full list of players released by KKR: Anrich Nortje, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Lynn, Joe Denly, KC Cariappa, Matt Kelly, Nikhil Naik, Piyush Chawla, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Robin Uthappa, Shrikant Mundhe.
Delhi Capitals
DC, who roped in Indian stars Rahane and Ashwin in the trade window, released a host of names. The major highlight was seeing the likes of foreign recruits being released in the form of Chris Morris, Colin Ingram and Colin Munro. One feels DC wants to concentrate mainly on Indian players.
Full list of players released by DC: Ankush Bains, B Ayyappa, Hanuma Vihari, Jalaj Saxena, Manjot Kalra, Nathu Singh, Chris Morris, Colin Ingram and Colin Munro.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH were forced to release Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan after the player was earlier banned by the ICC for not reporting corrupt approaches. The all-rounder was joined by veteran batsman Yusuf Pathan. SRH retained most of the players and released just five.
Full list of players released by SRH: Deepak Hooda, Ricky Bhui, Martin Guptill, Shakib Al Hasan, Pathan.
Chennai Super Kings
Separately, CSK went on to release fringe players from the side. The IPL 2019 finalists put their trust on veterans in order to maintain the consistency under MS Dhoni. Like every auction, CSK will go into the same as the most relaxed outfit.
Full list of players released by CSK:Â Mohit Sharma, David Willey, Dhruv Shorey, Sam Billings and Chaitanya Bishnoi.