Delhi release Yuvraj, Hyderabad offload Steyn

Yuvraj Singh, Dale Steyn, Dinesh Karthik, Kevin Pietersen, Angelo Mathews and Ishant Sharma were some of the prominent cricketers that were released by their respective Indian Premier League franchises after the window to retain players closed on Thursday (5.00 pm IST).

This is the first time that Steyn, who has been breaking down with injuries of late, has been eased out of a team while Yuvraj, who was bought for an astronomical sum of Rs 16 crore by the Delhi Daredevils in the last auction, was released after a poor show with the bat in the last edition.

Incidentally, Yuvarj recently made his way back into the Indian T20I side after a string of good knocks in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Daredevils, however, have kept Zaheer Khan and the retired left-arm seamer is expected to play the mentor’s role in the team.

After the first three years with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Steyn had been bought by the erstwhile Deccan Chargers and was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad, a team that replaced Chargers. Sunrisers have also released former England batsman Pietersen and India pacer Ishant.

Kings XI Punjab left out the recently-retired Virender Sehwag and Aussie middle-order batsman George Bailey, who captained them in the 2015 edition.

The eight franchises, including the newly-floated Pune and Rajkot, spent a whopping Rs 330.02 crore to retain/buy 101 players, including 37 overseas players.

The teams are still left with nearly Rs 200 crore to spend in the February 6 auction to be held in Bengaluru.

Mumbai Indians retained the maximum number of players with 19 while Delhi, Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers held back 14 each. Sunrisers and Kolkata Knight Riders retained 15 each.

Mumbai are left with the least amount of Rs 14.40 crore after splurging Rs 51.59 crore to retain 19, including six overseas players. Daredevils, after offloading the costliest player in Yuvraj, will go with nearly Rs 37 crore, the most any team will have, into the auction.

The second trading window will be open for the eight teams after the auction and will last till the beginning of the IPL. The ninth edition of the cash-rich T20 league will be held from April 9 to May 29.