Smith axed, Sanju to lead IPL Royals
New Delhi, Jan. 20: Sanju Samson replaced Steve Smith as Rajasthan Royals captain after the Australian batsman and some other under-performing stars were released by their respective IPL franchises even as Chennai Super Kings retained veteran Suresh Raina for the upcoming 14th edition of the league.
The deadline for the eight franchises to submit the lists of retained and released players for the next season ended on Wednesday.
Samson was appointed to the top job after RR decided against renewing former skipper Steve Smith’s contract.
Smith’s contract ended in October 2020.
The Australians, smarting from a Test series loss to an injury-plagued India, took a hit as the likes of the explosive Glenn Maxwell and opener Aaron Finch too were released by Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively.
Also released by KXIP were West Indies all-rounder Sheldon Cottrell, Afghanistan’s Mujeeb-urRahman and New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham, who underwent
a surgery recently to treat an injured finger.
CSK’s Harbhajan Singh and Mumbai Indians’ Lasith Malinga were among the other big names to be released by their respective sides ahead of next month’s auction.
Harbhajan was joined by the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay who were also let go by CSK.
Also released by MI was Sherfane Rutherford, while Delhi Capitals decided to enter the next edition without English batsman Jason Roy, wicketkeeper Alex Carey, leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and seamer Mohit Sharma.
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