IPL 2021: Which players will be released by Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings?

Just a week after the IPL 2020 concluded, reports have emerged suggesting that the IPL 2021 might see a mega auction before the tournament begins in the proposed window of April to May 2021. The BCCI might make the final decision in December whether they may conduct the mega auction or will they stick with the status quo until 2022. There are also reports that a ninth team might be included in IPL 2021.

In such a scenario, there will be many players who will be part of the auction pool and they may want to head towards a new team. On the other hand, existing teams will want to change their team composition. Which players might be released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2021 edition? Here is a potential list of players from Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings.

CSK, MI and RCB’s potential list

Kedar Jadhav’s underwhelming performance with the bat plus his inability to bowl might see him getting a new team ahead of IPL 2021. However, there are three players who might be released by the franchise in order to get some new blood in the team. Dwayne Bravo was injured and there are speculations that he might not feature for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021. With Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina not featuring in IPL 2020 and with reports stating that their contracts might not be renewed beyond 2020, there are doubts over whether Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh will feature in the yellow jersey of Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021.

Thus, the players who might face the axe for Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2021 auction might be Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore had an underwhelming season after a strong start. Once again they had some issues when it came to the bowling and batting of the team.  Dale Steyn, Umesh Yadav and Moeen Ali all had underwhelming performances with the ball, with Moeen Ali in particular reaching a low point after being run-out of a free-hit. Dale Steyn and Umesh Yadav all had economy rates in excess of 10 and that might see them being released by Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2021.

What about Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions? With the core of their squad intact, they may be wanting to retain majority of the players for the IPL mega-auction. However, there are some players who might be put in the auction pool. Sherfane Rutherford and Mitchell McClenaghan did not play a single game in IPL 2020 and there are reports that these two might be put back in the auction pool.