The list of retained and released players for each Indian Premier League team ahead of IPL 2021 was officially announced on January 20, 2021.

The 2021 edition of IPL will be the 14th edition of the T20 competition. The eight teams are set to feature in a two-month-long tournament, likely to be held in April and May. The venue nation for the tournament has not been decided so far, but India and UAE are expected to be the front-runners.

Ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, which is expected to be held on February 11, the teams announced their list of retained and released players.

Complete list of retained and released players for IPL 2021

Chennai Super Kings

Having endured a forgettable season in 2020, Chennai Super Kings decided to give their squad a fresh look ahead of the next season. Harbhajan Singh, Kedar Jadhav and Murali Vijay, along with Piyush Chawla, the most expensive Indian player in the IPL 2020 auction, have been released. However, Suresh Raina, who made a surprise pull-out from IPL 2020, has been retained.

Released players

Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Monu Singh, Shane Watson (retired)

Retained players

MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Faf Du Plessis, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Josh Hazlewood, Lungi Ngidi, Ambati Rayudu, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Ruturaj Gaikwad, N Jagadeesan, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, R Sai Kishore

Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals, who finished as finalists in the 2020 season, have decided to let go Jason Roy and Sandeep Lamichhane, along with veteran quick bowler Mohit Sharma.

Released players

Jason Roy, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Keemo Paul, Alex Carey

Retained players

Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Anrich Nortje, Pravin Dubey, Chris Woakes

Trades

Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel have been traded to Royal Challengers Bangalore

Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab, led by KL Rahul, had a topsy-turvy season in 2020, decided to release three overseas players, including Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.

"The plan was to retain the core" – Head Coach @anilkumble1074 on the players retained, released and more… 🗣#IPL2021 #SaddaPunjab pic.twitter.com/1dGj79pum9

— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) January 20, 2021

Released players

Glenn Maxwell, Karun Nair, Jagadeesha Suchith, Krishnappa Gowtham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sheldon Cottrell, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen, Tajinder Singh

Retained players

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

Kolkata Knight Riders

Tom Banton, the young England batsman, was released by KKR ahead of the IPL 2021 season, having played just two games in his debut season. Dinesh Karthik was retained along with Kuldeep Yadav, contrary to reports that the two could be released ahead of IPL 2021.

Ali Khan and Harry Gurney are not part of either list on the KKR website.

Released players

Tom Banton, Nikhil Naik, Chris Green, Siddhesh Lad, M Siddharth

Retained players

Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy

Mumbai Indians

The five-time IPL winners and defending champions for IPL 2021, Mumbai Indians will look to become the first team to make it a hat-trick of title wins this year.

Released players

Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell McClenaghan, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai.

Retained players

Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan

Rajasthan Royals

In one of the biggest exclusions so far, Rajasthan Royals decided to release Steve Smith, their captain in 2020, from their squad for IPL 2021. Sanju Samson has been named the captain, while Kumar Sangakkara will be the director of cricket.

Released players

Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Shashank Singh, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi

Retained players

Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, David Miller, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The RCB side, led by Virat Kohli, reached the playoffs in IPL 2020, but still couldn’t end their quest for a maiden IPL title this time. Ahead of the 2021 season, they have released quite as many as ten players, including overseas stars like Chris Morris and Aaron Finch.

IPL Retention Announcement 🔊 Here’s the news you’ve been waiting for, 12th Man Army. We have retained 12 stars from our 2020 squad. 🌟🤩#PlayBold #IPL2021 #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/YkzSV3EUjU

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) January 20, 2021

Released players

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

Retained players

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

Trades

Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel have been traded from Delhi Capitals

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Sunrisers Hyderabad, led by David Warner, made it to the playoffs in IPL 2020, despite being affected by a spate of injuries during the course of the tournament.

Released players

Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, Billy Sandeep and Yarra Prithvi Raj

Our full list of retained players for #IPL2021!#RisersRetained #IPLRetention #OrangeArmy pic.twitter.com/JmzYoM2Zvn

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) January 20, 2021

Retained players

David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Basil Thampi, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Virat Singh