Before the big auction on 19th December 2019, the Indian Premium League franchises were trying to zero in on the players they wanted to buy on the auction day. 332 players were up for auction, out of which 69 plyers were sold and 29 of those were overseas players. On13th December 2019 the franchises released a final list of the players traded, released and retained. 127 players, which included 35 overseas players were retained by the eight franchises. Let’s take a look at the list of retained players for IPL 2020.

MUMBAI INDIANS

The defending champions of IPL released 12 players from their team and retained 18. They mainly retained their core team, including the four-time IPL winning captain Rohit Sharma. Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan veteran was also retained despite his fitness woes.

Among others retained were Hardik and Krunal Pandya, the allrounder brothers, Ishan Kishan the wicketkeeper-batsman, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and Rahul Chahar. Kieron Pollard, Quinton de Kock, and Mitchell McClenaghan were the most notable overseas players retained for IPL 2020. Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Anmolpreet Singh, Jayant Yadav, Aditya Tare and Anukul Roy were also retained.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

Before the big auction, the three-time champions released only 6 players. The franchise has maintained its philosophy of backing the same set of players. Panned as the ‘Dad’s Army’, the team will be led by veteran wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni. With three titles and five second-place finishes shows the team’s consistency at the IPL cricketing extravaganza, and justifies their idea of supporting experienced players.

The experience of Ambati Raydu, Shane Watson, and Faf Du Plessis at the top provide their batting prowess. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina strengthen the middle order and control the innings if at all wickets fall early. Their spin trio of Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santer, and Ravindra Jadeja deliver excellently at their spin-friendly home ground.

DELHI CAPITALS

Last season, the team saw a dramatic revival after they ended their campaign on third place. They released 9 players and retained 14 players who were mainly their core team members. Their core team remained intact when they retained Upper order batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan, and Prithvi Shaw.

Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were retained from the middle order. To provide depth to bowling pacer Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kagiso Rabada, and Amit Sharma were retained.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Ahead of the auction, Sunrisers Hyderabad had released 6 members of their team. They chose to retain 18 players which included young talent house Abhishek Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed and Sandeep Sharma. With only 7 spots remaining on the squad they only had to recruit substitute players if regular players got injured.

Overseas players retained include batting powerhouse, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. Captain cool Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey who make up their middle order and bowlers Mohammed Nabi, Bhuwaneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, and Shahbaz Nadeem were retained. 

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

The two-time champions did not have a great season in the last edition of IPL as they failed to make the playoffs. They pressed the reset button and released some of their overseas players before the auction last year. KKR retained 13 of its players from the previous seasons.

Dinesh Karthik, Shubham Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine were the big names to be retained. Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Shivam Mavi were the other important retained players in IPL 2020.

Punjab Kings

From the last season, Punjab Kings released 7 players. It had Rs 42.70 crores in its kitty, the highest among the eight IPL franchises. Even though they had a dismal performance last season they chose to retain their core team. Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Mujheeb ur Rahman were among the core members that were retained.

A total number of 14 players were retained. Other members that were retained include Karun Nair, Mohammed Shami, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande and Murugan Ashwin.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

Inaugural edition champions, Rajasthan Royals chose to release 11 players including their main player Jaydev Unadakat and retained only 11 players from their squad of last season. Jofra Archer, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, and Jos Butler were the big names retained, Other players retained include Manan Vohra, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Shashank Singh, Varun Arora, and Mahipal Lomror.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Out of their 25-member squad, they almost let go half of their squad and retained 13 players from their original squad. Several changes were made to the squad to wash stains of their unfortunate past.

Out of the 13 retained players, only two of them are overseas players, Moeen Ali and veteran AB de Villiers. Captain Virat Kohli was retained too with Yuzvendra Chahal and Parthiv Patel who are the more experienced players in the squad. Other members who were retained include Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, DevduttPadikkal, Gurkeerat Mann, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, and Mohammed Siraj.