IPL 2017: Steyn, Pietersen and Negi among big players released by franchises

New Delhi [India], Dec. 19 (ANI): English batting star Kevin Pietersen, Indian all-rounder Pawan Negi and South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn were among the big names to be released by their respective franchises for the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). According to the IPL website, as many as 140 cricketers, including 44 overseas players, have been retained, while 63 have been released by the eight franchises for the 2017 edition of the lucrative tournament. Sunrisers Hyderabad, the last year's title winners have released six players- Karn Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Eoin Morgan, Trent Boult, T Suman, Aditya Tare. They have retained 17 players namely Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Naman Ojha, Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson, Siddarth Kaul, Bipul Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Cutting, Abhimanyu Mithun, Mustafizur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar. Rising Pune Supergiants, who finished seventh in the last edition of the tournament, have released 11 players- Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, RP Singh, Scott Boland, M Ashwin, Peter Handscomb, Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel, George Bailey. The franchise have retained 16 players namely Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, RP Singh, Scott Boland, M Ashwin, Peter Handscomb, Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel, George Bailey. Gujarat Lions, which secured the top spot after the league matches in the 2016 season, have released eight players- Dale Steyn, Paras Dogra, Eklavya Dwivedi, Sarabjit Ladda, Pravin Tambe, Umang Sharma, Amit Mishra (UP fast bowler), Akshdeep Nath. They have retained 16 players namely Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Kumar, Andrew Tye, Ishan Kishan, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivil Kaushik, Shadab Jakati, Jaydev Shah. Kings XI Punjab have released four players- Mitchell Johnson, Rishi Dhawan, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien while they have retained 19 players namely David Miller, Manan Vohra, Axar Patel, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha, M Vijay, Nikhil Naik, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Hashim Amla. Kolkata Knight Riders have released nine players-Morne Morkel, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Colin Munro, John Hastings, Jaydev Unadkat, R Sathish, Manan Sharma, Shaun Tait while they have retained 14 players namely Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Shakib Al Hasan, Chris Lynn, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Sheldon Jackson, Ankit Singh Rajput. Mumbai Indians have released eight players- Corey Anderson, Marchant de Lange, Unmukt Chand, Akshay Wakhare, Nathu Singh, Kishore Kamath, Martin Guptill, Jerome Taylor while the franchise has retained 20 players namely Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, J Suchith, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler, Tim Southee, Jithesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Punia. Delhi Daredevils have released seven players-Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, Joel Paris, Pawan Negi, Pawan Suyal, Akhil Herwadkar, Mahipal Lomror. The franchise have retained 18 players namely JP Duminy, Mohammed Shami, Quinton de Kock, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mayank Agarwal, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Sam Billings, Sanju Samson, Chris Morris, Carlos Brathwaite, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant, CV Milind, Syed Ahmed, Pratyush Singh. Last year's runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore have released 10 players- Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, Vikramjeet Malik, Praveen Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Vikas Tokas, Parvez Rasool, Chris Jordan while they have retained 20 players namely Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, Adam Milne, Sarfaraz Khan, S Aravind, Kedar Jadhav, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Smuel Badree, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Iqbal Abdulla, KL Rahul, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi. The 10th season of the IPL will start from April 3, 2017 and end on May 26. (ANI)