IPL Auction 2019: RCB release 10 players
The IPL 2019 deadline day is on and the teams are preparing the list of names they have retained and released. Led by captain Virat Kohli, the team has failed to perform well in the last two seasons.
This time, ahead of the IPL 2019 auctions, the side has released as many as 10 players, including former New Zealand wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes and Sarfaraz Khan.
The team finished as runners-up in IPL 2016, but have failed to qualify for the playoffs ever since.
The management retained South Africa's retired batsman AB de Villiers, along with the foreign set of Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tim Southee.
Amongst the players released, the foreigners include Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Corey Anderson, while the domestic players are Sarfaraz Khan, Pavan Deshpande, Manan Vohra, Murugan Ashwin, Aniruddha Joshi, Aniket Choudhary.
Mandeep Singh was traded for Kings XI Punjab all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.
14 players have been retained by the side. Interestingly, since Quinton de Kock has also been released by the franchise, they now have only Parthiv Patel as the wicket-keeper in their roster. Patel has left for the tour of Australia along with captain Virat Kohli.
AB de Villiers, who is currently part of the Tshwane Spartans in the Mzansi Super League, can don the keeping gloves, but owing to back problems he has refrained from doing so in the recent players.
Sarfaraz Khan, who was one of the three players retained by the franchise last season, has been shown the door. He was injured throughout IPL 2017 but managed to play just seven games in 2018. He made 51 runs with an average of 10.20.
Brendon McCullum, a high profile name in T20 cricket, was also released. He played six games last season and scored 127 runs at a strike-rate of 144.31.