Kevin Pietersen, Yuvraj Singh, Darren Sammy, Aaron Finch, Dinesh Karthik – the list goes on and on of the big names that have been released by the eight IPL franchises ahead of the 2015 season.
The Delhi Daredevils, after clearing the decks recently in a bid to rebuild their side have decided to do it once again, with Pietersen, Karthik, Murali Vijay, Ross Taylor and James Neesham to just name a few all facing the cull.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore have also decided to let go of their most expensive player from the last auction – Yuvraj Singh – opening up plenty of cap space for them as well.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad sprung a few surprises by releasing the likes of Finch, Sammy and Amit Mishra, which points to the fact that they also feel the need to bring in fresh blood to seriously compete for the title after failing to make the playoffs last season.
IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, expectedly, did not make too many changes, with Jacques Kallis moving into a coaching position, while Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab also chose not to release too many players for the auction.
Below is a list of the full released players along with the money they will have to spend in the IPL 2015 auction.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis, Debabrata Das, Sayan Mondal. (Auction money: Rs 13 crore)
Kings XI Punjab: Cheteshwar Pujara, L Balaji, Murali Kartik. (Auction money: Rs 12 crore)
Chennai Super Kings: Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Vijay Shankar, David Hussey. (Auction money: Rs 5 crore)
Mumbai Indians: Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Jalaj Saxena, Ben Dunk, Apurva Wankhede, CM Gautam, Krishmar Santokie and Sushant Marathe. (Auction money: Rs 10 crore)
Rajasthan Royals: Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper, Ankit Sharma, Amit Sharma, Ankush Bains. (Auction money: Rs 13 crore)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Amit Mishra, Aaron Finch, Darren Sammy, Irfan Pathan, Jason Holder, Venugopal Rao, Brendan Taylor, Prasanth Parameswaran, Anirudha S, Manprit Juneja. (Auction money: about Rs 21 crore)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Yuvraj Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan, Albie Morkel, Ravi Rampaul, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Tanmay Mishra. (Auction money: Rs 21 crore)
Delhi Daredevils: Kevin Pietersen, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Jayadev Unadkat, Ross Taylor, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rahul Sharma, Wayne Parnell, James Neesham, Siddarth Kaul, Rahul Shukla, HS Sharath, Milind Kumar. (Auction money: Rs 40 crore)
