Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan among others released by IPL franchises

Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 10 the eight franchises had to release the players they were no longer interested in holding on. The deadline for the same was yesterday and as per Mumbai Mirror, the teams have released nearly 40 players back in the pool that will be presented in the IPL 2017 players auction.

The likes of Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan, Morne Morkel, Jason Holder and Mitchell Johnson are understood to have been released by their respective franchises. Rising Pune Supergiants who made their IPL debut last season have released around 10 players. The team had a terrible year despite having Indian limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni at the lead along with Ravichandran Ashwin. They were one but last after the 14 league games and that definitely demands changes in the team.

Pietersen who had to fly back home mid-way through the tournament due to an injury along with Indian Test pacer Ishant Sharma, allrounder Irfan Pathan and spinner Murugan Ashwin have also been dropped out of the squad. The second new team Gujarat Lions has also released Steyn along with some other local players but much information was not available.

Delhi Daredevils who have over the years had a habit of spending big and letting off players after one season have done it again. DD shelled 8.5 crore to procuring allrounder Pawan Negi who proved to be a huge dud and didn’t feature in most games for the team has been set Pawan Negi free.

The Kolkata Knight Riders also lead the teams who have released overseas player – Jason Holder, John Hastings and Colin Munro along with Morkel no longer seem to fit the scheme of things at KKR. IPL 2016 champions David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad have done away with England ODI captain Morgan along with domestic players like Ashish Reddy and T Suman.

Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore the other two teams are also believed to have sacked a few players but there was no reliable information available to confirm the same.