Chennai retain core despite dismal IPL 2020; Chawla, Vijay & Jadhav amongst those released

After announcing that Suresh Raina will be retained by the franchise for the IPL 2021, Chennai has now released the list of remaining players retained ahead of the mini-auction slated to be held in February. Despite having a dismal season in 2020, the franchise has retained most of its players including Ambati Rayadu, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar. The squad will be led by MS Dhoni as in the previous editions of the IPL so far. 

The franchise has also retained young Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made an impact in the last leg of the tournament in 2020, with some brilliant innings as he opened the batting for the team. Ace all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran along with Mitchel Santner have also been retained by the franchise. On the other hand, Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay have been released in a bid to increase the franchise's purse amount for the mini-auction. 

List of players retained: 

N Jagadeesan, R Gaikwad, KM Asif, R Jadeja, MS Dhoni, J Hazlewood, K Sharma, A Rayudu, S Raina, I Tahir, D Chahar, Faf du Plessis, S Thakur, M Santner, D Bravo, L Ngidi, S Curran, S Kishore.

Players Released: 

Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, S Watson, M Singh

READ | IPL 2021: Bangalore Announce List Of Players Retained; Finch, Morris & Moeen Ali Released

Rajasthan release Steve Smith 

Ahead of the mini-auction for the IPL 2021 slated to be held in February, Rajasthan has let go of their captain Steve Smith after a series of poor performances in the previous edition. Champions of the inaugural IPL edition, Rajasthan finished with a wooden spoon in IPL 2020. The ouster of Steve Smith from Rajasthan means that the franchise will have a new captain for the upcoming edition of the IPL. 

While Smith played all 14 matches in UAE, he managed to score only 311 runs at a strike rate of 131, with impressive performances in the first two games of the league stage. With the likes of Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler and star English all-rounder Ben Stokes in the fray, it remains to be seen whom the management chooses to lead the side in the upcoming edition, provided they are all retained. 

READ | Michael Vaughan Takes U-turn, SLAMS Tim Paine And Australia To Begin Ashes 2021 Mind Games

With the IPL 2021 just months away, the Bangalore franchise led by Indian skipper Virat Kohli has announced its list of retained players on Wednesday evening. The squad has retained its core group comprising of skipper Virat Kohli, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and explosive Proteas batsman AB de Villiers. Simon Katich and the management have also decided to keep youngster Devdutt Padikkal, who had a phenomenon IPL 2020, providing the squad with great starts at the top of the order. 

Moreover, Bangalore has also decided to retain the services of Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini as they eye their maiden IPL title in 2021. Notable overseas players that have been retained include Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe and Kane Richardson. 

READ | 'We Did Out Best, But Credit Where Its Due': David Warner On Team India's Historic Win

READ | Rishabh Pant Becomes Top-ranked Keeper Batsman In ICC Test Rankings Post Gabba Heroics