By The 8 IPL franchises decided the fate of 196 players on the IPL 2021 Retention Day a couple of days back. A total of 139 players were retained by their respective franchises while 54 players released. 3 players – Robin Uthappa, Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel – found new teams even before the auction as their respective franchises traded them to other teams.
Among the list of released players, Steven Smith’s departure from Rajasthan Royals (RR) was a big surprise. The franchises mostly decide against releasing their captain, especially when there is a mini-auction. But that wasn’t the case with RR. The one-time champion side made the big call and Smith will be back in the auction after a long time.
The next step for IPL franchises will be to ink on players they want as the auction for the next season takes place in February. Speaking to PTI, a BCCI official said that the IPL 2021 auction will take place on February 18.
