Today was the last day for the founding franchises to send in their list of retained players, as per IPL rules.
Established stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag expectedly held on to their place in their founding IPL franchises, along with 10 others, in the official list of retained players for the fourth edition of the mega-event, announced today by the BCCI.
Today was the last day for the founding franchises to send in their list of retained players, as per IPL rules.
And as expected Chennai Super Kings retained captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay and South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, while Mumbai Indians went for batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga and West Indian powerhouse Kieron Pollard, the BCCI said in a statement.
The Delhi Daredevils, predictably did not let go swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag, while the exciting Virat Kohli was retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore. Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, decided to keep their two Australian stars Shane Warne and Shane Watson.
After retaining four players, both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are now left with only $4.5 million to spend either in the players auction or in buying Ranji players outside the auction.
Rajasthan Royals will have $5.9 million available to spend (pending further orders from the Bombay high court), Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore will each have a balance of $7.2 million available.
However, the remaining franchises will have the full $9 million available to be spent on buying players.
Under the IPL player regulations, each of the founding franchises could retain up to four players (of which only three could be Indian) in advance of the player auction -against fixed deductions from the $9 million salary cap.
Meanwhile, the two new franchises - Kochi and Pune -will each have the option to sign upto four overseas players who have not previously featured in the IPL. After that there will be the player auction, which will feature the remaining top Indian and overseas players.
Speaking on today's developments, IPL chairman Chirayu Amin said, "The first stage of the process for confirming the playing squads for 2011 has gone off well. It is heartening to see that a majority of the founding franchises have chosen to retain players."
But stalwarts Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, as well as in-form opener Gautam Gambhir, were not retained by their franchises for 2011 and 2012 seasons and will go into the players' auction pool to be bought by interested teams.
Kumble, who led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last two seasons of the T20 League, and Dravid have been set free for the January 8-9 auction by RCB.
Ganguly was also not retained by under-performing Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kokata Knight Riders.
The 12 cricketers to have been retained:
Chennai Super Kings -- MS Dhoni (Ind), Murali Vijay (Ind), Suresh Raina (Ind) and Albie Morkel (SA).
Mumbai Indians -- Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Harbhajan Singh (Ind), Lasith Malinga (SL), Kieron Pollard (WI).
Rajasthan Royals -- Shane Warne (Aus), Shane Watson (Aus).
Delhi Daredevils -- Virender Sehwag (Ind).
Royal Challengers Bangalore -- Virat Kohli (Ind).
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