(Cricket news) The Kolkata Knight Riders let go of the most players as they released as many as 16 players from the squad, while three players were acquired via trades. They brought back Lockie Feguson and got Rahmanullah Gurbaz via trade involving Gujarat Titans. KKR also splurged the cash on Shardul Thakur who they acquired from the Delhi Capitals.The likes of Pat Cummins, Alex Hales and Sam Billings have opted out of IPL 2023 while the management also decided to do away with the likes of Aaron Finch and Mohammad Nabi. Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Mavi were among their big domestic exclusions.

Current squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson (Traded from GT) , Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Traded from GT), Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Tim Southee, Shardul Thakur(Traded from DC), Umesh Yadav

Players released – Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi, Chamika Karunaratne, Ajinkya Rahane, Aman Khan (traded), Shivam Mavi, Abhijeet Tomar, Ashok Sharma, Baba Indrajith, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Rasikh Salam, Sheldon Jackson

Kolkata Knight Riders – Purse available: INR 7.05 Crore

For Mumbai Indians, the biggest news was that they had released Kieron Pollard who subsequently went on to retire from IPL. The MI management released 13 players including the likes of Riley Meredith, Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen and Tymal Mills while Jaydev Unadkat and M Ashwin were among their eight domestic exclusions. In the auction, MI will most likely target a replacement for the big West Indian as they have 20.55cr in their purse. Next year the return of Jofra Archer will be eagerly awaited as they have strengthened their bowling unit by trading for Jason Behrendorff from RCB.

Current squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jofra Archer , Jason Behrendorff (Traded for RCB), Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Tim David, Kumar Kartikeya, Arshad Khan, Ishan Kishan, Akash Madhwal, Hrithik Shokeen, Ramandeep Singh, Tristan Stubbs, Tilak Varma, Arjun Tendulkar, Suryakumar Yadav.

Players released – Kieron Pollard (retired), Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen, Riley Meredith, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, Anmolpreet Singh, Aryan Juyal, Basil Thampi, Rahul Buddhi, Sanjay Yadav

Mumbai Indians – Purse available: INR 20.55 crore

The Punjab Kings will be entering the 2023 auction with the second largest purse as they are seeking a new direction. They have appointed a new captain in Shikhar Dhawan and a new head coach in Trevor Bayliss. The Kings have released nine players including their last season captain Mayank Agarwal while another big name they let go off was Odean Smith who they purchased for a large sum of money in the last auction.

Current squad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jonny Bairstow, Raj Bawa, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Rishi Dhawan, Nathan Ellis, Shahrukh Khan, Liam Livingstone, Kagiso Rabada, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Atharva Taide

Players released – Odean Smith, Benny Howell, Mayank Agarwal, Sandeep Sharma, Ishan Porel, Vaibhav Arora, Prerak Mankad, Ansh Patel, Writtick Chatterjee

Punjab Kings – Purse available: INR 32.2 crore

For  last season’s champions, Lockie Ferguson was traded to Kolkata Knight Riders along with Gurbaz as the defending champions released a total of five players while retaining the core of the squad. They will still have 19.25cr with them in auction as we can see them target a fast bowler who is economical in the death overs. They could target the likes of Sam Curran and Jason Holder in the mini auction to strengthen their team further.

Current squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Noor Ahmad, Yash Dayal, Shubman Gill, Alzarri Joseph, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Darshan Nalkande, Wriddhiman Saha, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Jayant Yadav

Players released – Lockie Ferguson (traded), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (traded), Jason Roy, Dominic Drakes, Gurkeerat Singh, Varun Aaron

Gujarat Titans – Purse available: INR 19.25 Crore

Delhi Capitals have retained the majority core of the squad as they let go off Shardul, who was traded to KKR but what that did was it freed up 10 Crore which was the amount they paid in the previous auction. Along with that the Capitals have let go of five players but kept the balance of the side mostly intact. 

Current squad: Rishabh Pant (c), Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dhull, Praveen Dubey, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Mitchell Marsh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vicky Ostwal, Axar Patel, Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, Prithvi Shaw, David Warner, Kuldeep Yadav, Lalit Yadav

Players released – Tim Seifert, Shardul Thakur (traded), Mandeep Singh, KS Bharat, Ashwin Hebbar

Delhi Capitals – Purse available: INR 19.45 crore

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