IPL 2021: Glenn Maxwell released by Punjab; Hyderabad retains most of its squad

Ahead of the February mini-auction for IPL 2021, the Punjab franchise has announced that they will release Australian hard-hitter Glenn Maxwell, releasing a list of 16 cricketers who have made the cut for the 2021 Dream11 Indian Premier League. Apart from Maxwell, West Indies’ speed merchant Sheldon Cottrell, another big biggest star attraction has also been released owing to his below-par performance. 

According to Head Coach Anil Kumble, the plan was to retain 'the core of the team'. “The plan was to keep the core of the team, and make sure the players who were part of the team last season will continue this year as well. We believe that this group along with whoever we pick at the auctions to fill those gaps will be able to turn things around for Kings XI Punjab,” said Kumble.  

Read: IPL 2021: Mumbai Releases Lasith Malinga, Sherfane Rutherford; Check List Here

Read: Rajasthan Release Steve Smith Ahead Of Auction, Franchise To Have New Skipper For IPL 2021

List of players retained & released

The list does see the bulk of their core squad retained with last season’s captain KL Rahul, opening partner Mayank Agarwal, Caribbean duo of Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran, spinners Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Murugan Ashwin. India’s domestic talents like Prabhsimran Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, and Darshan Nalkande will also feature in the squad. Meanwhile, apart from Glenn Maxwell, Punjab has released 8 more players along the liked of Karun Nair, Hardus Viljoen, and Jagadeesha Suchith. 

Retained players: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel

Released players: Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Hardus Viljoen, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, Jimmy Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Tajinder Singh. 

Hyderabad retains most of its squad 

On the other hand, Hyderabad has retained most of its players from the 2020 squad and only five players have been released. The players who have been retained are David Warner, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Jonny Bairstow, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Mitchell Marsh, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, T Natarajan, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddharth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

No big names have been let go by Hyderabad which has decided to bid adieu to Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep, and Y Prithvi Raj for IPL 2021. 

Read: IPL 2021: Bangalore Announce List Of Players Retained; Finch, Morris & Moeen Ali Released

Read: Chennai Retain Core Despite Dismal IPL 2020; Chawla, Vijay & Jadhav Amongst Those Released