IPL 2021: Bangalore announce list of players retained; Finch, Morris & Moeen Ali released

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

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

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Players retained by Bangalore: 

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Yuzvendra Chahal, am Zampa, Josh Philippe, Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahmed and Pawan Deshpande 

Rajasthan release Steve Smith 

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

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

Raina to continue with Chennai 

Meanwhile, Chennai franchise ed by former India skipper MS Dhoni has decided to retain Suresh Raina. As per ANI sources, franchise has decided to retain former India batsman along with star players Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo. development comes as franchises face deline heat of January 20 to submit ir list of retained players ahe of mini-auction. 

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