IPL 2021: Complete retention list for the eight teams; RCB release Aaron Finch, KXIP say goodbye to Glenn Maxwell

Rajasthan Royals have let go of skipper Steve Smith after a disappointing IPL 2020

The IPL 2021 season is only a few months away and the franchises have started to assemble their troops in a hunt for the perfect combination. The teams announced their retentions and releases ahead of the mini-auction in February. Lasith Malinga has retired from franchise cricket, bringing an end to his long association with the Mumbai Indians.

The Rajasthan Royals have dropped skipper Steve Smith after a disappointing IPL 2020 and attacking batsman Sanju Samson has been named the new captain for the upcoming season. The Sunrisers Hyderabad have retained their core team, while the Chennai Super Kings released players like Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh after the team's awful performance in 2020. CSK's Shane Watson has also retired from all forms of cricket. And the Kings XI Punjab went ahead with the release of star player Glenn Maxwell who endured a horrid run of form last season with just 108 runs in 13 matches.

Let's look at the complete breakdown of releases and retentions:

Mumbai Indians

Retained players: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan.

Released players: Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell McCleneghan, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai.

Remaining purse: Rs 15.35 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 7 (4 overseas).

Delhi Capitals

Retained players: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, R Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Anrich Nortje, Chris Woakes.

Released players: Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Keemo Paul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Alex Carey, Jason Roy.

Traded players: Daniel Sams (traded to RCB), Harshal Patel (traded to RCB).

Remaining purse: Rs 12.8 crore (before the Sams and Patel trade).

Slots left in the squad: 8 (3 overseas).

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Retained players: Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Joshua Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahamad, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson.

Roster update: Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel have been bought in all-cash trade deal with the Delhi Capitals.

Released players: Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Dale Steyn (unavailable for 2021 season), Parthiv Patel (retired from all forms of cricket).

Remaining purse: Rs 35.7 crore (will require update due to trade purchases).

Slots left in the squad: 11 (3 overseas).

Chennai Super Kings

Retained players: MS Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Sam Curran, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, R Sai Kishore.

Released players: Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Monu Kumar Singh, Shane Watson (retired from cricket).

Remaining purse: Rs 22.9 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 7 (1 overseas).

Rajasthan Royals

Retained players: Sanju Samson (captain), Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa.

Released players: Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh.

Remaining purse: Rs 34.85 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 8 (3 overseas).

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Retained players: David Warner (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh.

Released players: Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, Yarra Prithviraj.

Remaining purse: Rs 10.75 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 3 (1 overseas).

Kings XI Punjab

Retained players: KL Rahul (captain), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel.

Released players: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen, Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, Tajinder Singh.

Remaining purse: Rs 53.2 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 9 (5 overseas).

Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained players: Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton, Varun Chakravarthy.

Released players: Nikhil Naik, Siddhesh Lad, M Siddharth, Tom Banton, Chris Green, Harry Gurney, Ali Khan.

Remaining purse: Rs 10.85 crore.

Slots left in the squad: 7 (1 overseas)