Steve Smith has been retained as captain by Rajasthan Royals, since the man who led the side during the earlier part of the last IPL, Ajinkya Rahane, has moved to Delhi Capitals.
Among the major players released are Jaydev Unadkat (the costliest player for the last two IPL season in a row), Ish Sodhi, Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, and Liam Livingstone.
Apart from Smith, those retained include England’s World-Cup winning trio of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Varun Aaron, and Shreyas Gopal. Fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni is traded off to Mumbai Indians.
After the trades and releases, the Royals have a total purse of ₹28.9 crores available for the 2020 IPL auction.
Smith excited to lead Royals once again
Speaking about leading the Royals once again in IPL 2020, Steve Smith said, “It’s an honor to be named the Rajasthan Royals captain for the 2020 season. It’s been a pleasure leading the Royals in previous years and I can’t wait to play alongside this extremely talented squad, plus those we pick up in the auction.”
Retained Players: Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mahipal Lomror, Varun Aaron, Manan Vohra.
Released players: Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, Shubham Ranjane, Prashant Chopra, Ish Sodhi, Aryaman Birla, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny, Liam Livingstone, Sudheshan Midhun.
