5 Surprising releases by the franchises ahead of IPL 2021 Auction

As the IPL 2021 auction is approaching, there were all types of rumors regarding the player retention of all the teams. On January 20, all the franchises submitted the list of their retained players to the BCCI. As always there was some surprising retention while there were some surprising releases as well.

As the franchises looked to build their teams for the 2021 edition, there were going to be some players who were going to be released. The IPL auction will be held in the month of February, but there hasn’t been any duration specified when the league will be played. The franchises also had to make the calls of retention without being sure of the venue of the 2021 season. 

Some releases were surprising also because this year was going to be the last season before the big auction happens in 2022, where all the players will be jingled. In the mega auction, teams will be allowed to retain five of their players, which will be a combination of foreign and Indian stars. However, this year’s auction will see several stars coming back to the hammer clash and donning jerseys of their new franchises.

Here are the 5 surprising releases by the franchises ahead of the IPL 2021 auctions: –

1. Steve Smith- Rajasthan Royals

The news of Rajasthan Royals releasing their captain, Smith was floating around in the news for the last few days. However, there was no official news. Finally, the franchise confirmed their decision about releasing the Australian batsman. He had joined the franchise in 2014, after which he was named the captain towards the end of the 2015 season.

Apart from the one season when he was banned due to the ball-tampering controversy, the batsman led the side towards the end of the 2019 season and the entire 2020 season. It wasn’t even the case that he was going to the auction so that RR can pick up again as the franchise named Sanju Samson as the captain for the 2021 auction. It seems that his inability to bring home a title for the Rajasthan franchise has made them take the harsh call of releasing him. 

It is even more surprising because he has some great numbers with the bat. In 95 matches, he has scored 2333 runs at an average of more than 35 along with a strike rate of 130. It can be assumed that his record in the 2020 season with the bat, made it more difficult for him to make it to the final cut in the RR squad for the upcoming season.