IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) retained, released players and purse remaining ahead of Auction

It is that time for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and their fans again where they look hopeful to build a title-winning team for the upcoming season. The deadline to submit the list of retained and released players for IPL 2021 is here and the franchise led by superstar Virat Kohli has taken some tough decisions. IPL 2020 was about ‘what could’ve been’ for RCB and many felt they botched up a great chance to win the maiden title.

After starting extremely well, they lost their way completely at the back end. At one stage, they were competing for the top two positions but lost four consecutive matches to somehow make it to the playoffs and came second in the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Though the head coach Simon Katich was happy with the team’s performances and reckoned that the team is moving in the right direction, they will be keen on making some useful buys in the auction.

Ace pacer Dale Steyn has already made himself unavailable for the upcoming season. He tweeted the same earlier this month while also confirming that he isn’t retired. As far as the retentions are concerned, they have backed some of the top performers from the previous season in Devdutt Padikkal and Washington Sundar among others.

Cricket tweet 🏏

Just a short message to let everyone know that I’ve made myself unavailable for RCB at this years IPL, I’m also not planning on playing for another team, just taking some time off during that period.

Thank you to RCB for understanding.

No I’m not retired. 🤙

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) January 2, 2021

Aaron Finch released following a poor IPL 2020

RCB has released 10 players ahead of the upcoming auction including the Australian skipper Aaron Finch who didn’t have a great IPL last year. However, they have decided to retain Josh Phillipe possibly looking at his current form in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) season. Another big player released from the franchise is Chris Morris who actually performed well for them.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa have been retained with even Shahbaz Ahmed being part of the retained list. Surprisingly, Shivam Dube has been let go of by RCB and the franchise might look for a good all-rounder in the auction.

List of retained RCB players

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa

Traded Players

Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel

List of released RCB players

Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Isuru Udana, Parthiv Patel, Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav

Purse Available

INR 35.7 crore