Former Australia captain Steve Smith, who is serving a ban following the ball-tampering scandal, along with India’s Ajinkya Rahane and England stars Ben Stokes, Jos Butter were among the ones retained by Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals.
The inaugural IPL winners have decided to retain as many as 16 players for the upcoming season.
Some of the other high-profile names that made it to the retained list include Sanju Samson, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal, all of whom made an impact last season.
Zubin Bharucha, Head of Cricket for Rajasthan Royals, commented on the retained players: “The results in the previous season have been impressive and that is why we have decided not to disturb the balance of the squad. We cannot wait for the start of the 2019 season and preparation has already begun.”
The released players comprised of Australian batsman D’Arcy Short along with medium pacer Ben Laughlin and South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen. Another Protea, Dane Paterson and wrist spinner Zahir Khan from Afghanistan as well as Dushmantha Chameera from Sri Lanka have also been released.
The Indians released by the Rajasthan are Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma and Jatin Saxena.
Retained Indian players: Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror
Retained International players: Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi