Lynn, Miller, Unadkat Among 71 Players Released Ahead of IPL Auction

New Delhi, Nov 15 (PTI) Chris Lynn, David Miller, Jaydev Unadkat and Chris Morris were among the 71 players released by their respective franchisees on Friday ahead of next month's IPL auction.

Friday was the deadline for releasing, trading and retaining players. A total of 127 players have been retained including 35 foreigners.

Lynn, the big-hitting Australian opener, was released by Kolkata Knight Riders after five fruitful seasons when he got the team off to a flying start on umpteen occasions.

The other 10 released KKR players include West Indian Carlos Brathwaite, South African Anrich Nortje, former India players Piyush Chawla and Robin Uthappa, who struggled to get going last season.

Kings XI Punjab go into the auction on December 19 with a purse of Rs 42.70 crore, the biggest among the eight teams after they released eight players including South Africa's Miller, Englishman Sam Curran and mystery Tamil Nadu spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was bought for a whopping Rs 8.4 crore last year.

Miller went on to become one of the batting mainstays for Kings XI Punjab over the past eight seasons, scoring 1850 runs in 79 games at a strike rate of 138.78.

"Kings XI Punjab now have the highest salary cap available going into the auction while Royal Challengers Bangalore have the most number of player slots (12) available (including 6 overseas slots). After today's deadline, Chennai Super Kings have the largest squad size (20)," read a BCCI statement.

"Of the eight franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore (12) have released the most players while Sunrisers Hyderabad (5) have released the least players from their squad," it added.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians have retained 18 players including veteran Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga despite his fitness issues while releasing 12.

Among the released players are Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff and Alzarri Joseph of West Indies, New Zealand's Adam Milne, Beuran Hendricks and Ben Cutting.

Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who quit all forms of cricket including IPL earlier this year, has also been released.

Kiwi seamer Trent Boult, West Indian Sherfane Rutherford and Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni are the three trade-ins for the franchise.

Three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings have released England cricketers Sam Billings and David Willey besides three Indian players including 2015 World Cupper Mohit Sharma. With 20 players already in their squad, CSK go into the auction with a meagre purse of Rs 14.60 crore.

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have let go of their 12 players including seven foreigners. The big names released are South African pacer Dale Steyn, New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme, Australian Marcus Stoinis and West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer. They roughly have Rs 28 crore to work with at the auction.

Delhi Capitals, who had traded in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane from KXIP and Rajasthan Royals respectively, have retained young Prithvi Shaw whose doping ban ends on Friday. There was speculation over Shaw being traded to the Royals.

The Delhi franchise has released nine players including two South Africans, all-rounder Morris and power-hitter Colin Ingram. New Zealand top-order batsman Colin Munro has also been released and so has been India's Test specialist Hanuma Vihari.

Rajasthan Royals have released 11 players including pacer Jaydev Unadkat, whom they had bought back for Rs 8.4 crore last year after paying Rs 11.5 crore for him in the previous season.

The franchise also announced that star Australian batsman Steve Smith will continue to lead the team.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have released the least number of players -- five -- and they include Shakib Al Hasan, who has been banned by the ICC, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan.

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