IPL 2021: KKR release Banton and Green ahead of mini-auction

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], January 20 (ANI): Eoin Morgan-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday announced that the side has decided to release Tom Banton and Chris Green from their squad ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season.
Along with Green and Banton, Siddesh Lad and Nikhil Naik have also been released. Pat Cummins who was bought for Rs 15.5 crore for the IPL 2020 season has been retained and he will once again be seen donning purple and gold.
KKR retained players: Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Rinku Singh.
Released players: Chris Green, Siddesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, M Siddharth, Tom Banton.
Talking about the released and retained players, Morgan said: "Selfishly it would be brilliant if we could keep everybody together. The franchise has invested a lot of time and money in younger players and older experienced players to try and get them to gel. I also think with the new backroom staff, head coach and assistant coach working together it would give them a leg up if they had the same team next year."
In the 2020 season, KKR had missed the playoffs by a whisker due to net run-rate and the side finished the season at the fifth spot.
The side also opted for a captaincy change midway and Dinesh Karthik passed the baton to England white-ball leader Morgan.
KKR has won the IPL twice (2012 and 2014) and both the title wins came under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir. (ANI)