Rajasthan Royals release Smith; Dhoni stays CSK skipper

Ahead of the 2018 IPL, Smith was the only player retained by the Royals for Rs 12.5 crore

Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch and Lasith Malinga were among the big names released by their respective franchises on Wednesday, ahead of the February 11 mini-auction for the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

Chennai Super Kings have kept their faith in M S Dhoni, who is set to lead the team in the 14th edition as well with the franchise retaining Suresh Raina, whose departure from the UAE quarantine created quite a stir.

Hot under the collar for perpetual mediocrity, Royal Challengers Bangalore went on a culling spree, releasing as many as 10 players.

The Bengaluru-based team is now left with 12 players, including a core comprising Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal. While the move was on expected lines, the likes of Finch and Chris Morris would have hoped to hang onto their spots.

Instead, RCB opted to coat the core with a young set-up in Devdutt Padikkal, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar among others.

The trend of shedding seasoned players in favour of the young extended to CSK to some degree as the three-time champions got rid of Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla.

The move to stick with Dhoni, who retired from all forms of international cricket last year, is surely going to draw some flak in the coming months, but the franchise can’t be blamed for holding on to its icon, a leadership and merchandising asset if nothing else.

Rajasthan Royals didn’t mind a shift in allegiance for the greater good, supposedly, as they let go of Smith and replaced the Australian at helm with a trigger-happy Sanju Samson. Shaken by their bottom-place finish in 2020, Rajasthan also roped in Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara as team director.

Mumbai Indians, not the ones to chop and change readily, stuck to their core, but did release Malinga after the Sri Lankan paceman’s visible drop in athleticism over the last two seasons. The highest wicket-taker in IPL history didn’t feature in the previous edition, but is expected to take on a mentorship role in the side.

On the topic of letting go, Kings XI Punjab released Maxwell after a lengthy partnership with the hard-hitting but often sub-par Australian batsman. The sacking of Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham and Karun Nair to this meant the Punjab side now have a purse of Rs 53 crore, the biggest franchise purse ahead of the highly-anticipated auctions.