Top cricket stars from over eight franchisees have been released ahead of IPL 2017 by their respective teams. This includes players from South Africa, England, Australia and, of course, India. No Pakistan player is a part of this as cricketers from the neighbouring country have been barred by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the Indian Premier League.
Top names like Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Hogg and the just-married Ishant Sharma are part of the players released by their respective IPL sides. Does that mean they cannot be seen playing come IPL 2017?
Well, no is the answer. These players will be under the hammer during the IPL Auction 2017, scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on February 4. The likes of Hogg and Ishant can still play for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) if the mentioned franchisees decide to trigger the buy-back option.
IPL 2017 is scheduled for an April 5 start. Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad will be hosting the opening ceremony as well as the IPL 2017 final.
Here is the entire list of players released
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Karn Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Eoin Morgan, Trent Boult, T Suman, Aditya Tare
Kolkata Knight Riders: Morne Morkel, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Colin Munro, John Hastings, Jaydev Unadkat, R Sathish, Manan Sharma, Shaun Tait
Rising Pune Supergiants: Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, RP Singh, Scott Boland, M Ashwin, Peter Handscomb, Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel, George Bailey
Gujarat Lions: Dale Steyn, Paras Dogra, Eklavya Dwivedi, Sarabjit Ladda, Pravin Tambe, Umang Sharma, Amit Mishra (UP fast bowler), Akshdeep Nath
Kings XI Punjab: Mitchell Johnson, Rishi Dhawan, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien
Mumbai Indians: Corey Anderson, Marchant de Lange, Unmukt Chand, Akshay Wakhare, Nathu Singh, Kishore Kamath, Martin Guptill, Jerome Taylor
Delhi Daredevils: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Imran Tahir, Joel Paris, Pawan Negi, Pawan Suyal, Akhil Herwadkar, Mahipal Lomror
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, Vikramjeet Malik, Praveen Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Vikas Tokas, Parvez Rasool, Chris Jordan
