New Delhi: Ahead of the February auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL), teams made some interesting changes to their squads.
While franchises retained some of their key players, other big name stars were dumped.
Yuvraj Singh heads the pack of players left unemployed, as Delhi Daredevils opted to release him citing financial constraints.
Other world cricket superstars released by teams include Dale Steyn, Aaron Finch, Virender Sehwag and Ishant Sharma.
Here is the complete list of important players that were released and retained by the six IPL teams.
Delhi Daredevils
Top players retained: Amit Mishra, Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Zaheer Khan, Albie Morkel, Imran Tahir, Jean-Paul Duminy, Quinton de Kock.
Top players released: Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary, Angelo Mathews.
Kings XI Punjab
Top players retained: Aksar Patel, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Manan Vohra, Murali Vijay, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh.
Top players released: Virender Sehwag, George Bailey, Thisara Perera.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Top players retained: Gautam Gambhir, Kuldeep Yadav, Manish Pandey, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Brad Hogg, Morne Morkel, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine.
Top players released: C Cariappa, Patrick Cummins, Ryan ten Doeschate, Azhar Mahmood, James Neesham.
Mumbai Indians
Top players retained: Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Parthiv Patel, R Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma, Unmukt Chand, Keiron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Lendl Simmons.
Top players released: Aditya Tare, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, Aaron Finch, Alex Hales, Ben Hilfenhaus, Josh Hazlewood.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Top players retained: Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Varun Aaron, Virat Kohli, AB de Villers, Chris Gayle, Mitchell Starc.
Top players released: Vijay Zol, Ashok Dinda, Dinesh Karthik, Iqbal Abdullah, Jalaj Saxena, S Badrinath, Manvinder Bisla, Sean Abbott, Darren Sammy.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Top players retained: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Naman Ojha, Parvez Rasool, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, Eoin Morgan, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult.
Top players released: Ishant Sharma, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara.
