Ahead of the 2020 IPL players’ auction, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) has released seven players and retained 14 players on Friday (15th November).
At the end of the pre-auction trade window, KXIP has set 16 players in the squad for the next IPL season. Earlier this month, they traded out the previous two seasons captain Ravichandran Ashwin (to Delhi Capitals) and the pacer Ankit Rajpoot (to Rajasthan Royals). Meanwhile, they traded in Jagadeesha Suchith (from Delhi Capitals) and Krishnappa Gowtham (from Rajasthan Royals).
On Friday, the KXIP have announced their final retained and released players’ list before the upcoming players’ auction.
Among the 14-member retained players’ list, 10 are Indian cricketers and four are overseas cricketers. As they have already 16 players in the squad (12 Indians and 4 foreigners), the Punjab franchise can buy nine more cricketers in the forthcoming players’ auction. Out of these nine players’ slots, KXIP can buy a maximum of four more overseas players from the auction.
On the other hand, KXIP has released seven players from the IPL 2019 squad. Out of these seven players, three are Indians and four are overseas cricketers.
Kolkata will host the 2020 IPL players’ auction on 19th December 2019. After the end of the pre-season trade window, KXIP has INR 42.70 cr in their purse – most among all IPL teams.
The IPL 2020 is likely to be held from early April to late May 2020. In the last season (IPL 2019), KXIP finished at the sixth position after winning six games and losing eight matches.
Apart from 2008 (semifinalists) and 2014 (runners-up) seasons, KXIP has failed to finish in the top four positions in every other IPL season.
Here are the detailed lists of KXIP squad
Retained
(Indian players)
KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mohammed Shami, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Darshan Nalkande, Sarfaraz Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar and Murugan Ashwin.
(Overseas players)
Nicholas Pooran (West Indies), Chris Gayle (West Indies), Mujeeb ur Rahman (Afghanistan) and Hardus Viljoen (South Africa)
Traded in
(Indian players)
Jagadeesha Suchith and Krishnappa Gowtham.
Traded out
(Indian players)
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ankit Rajpoot.
Released
(Indian players)
Varun Chakravarthy, Simran Singh and Agnivesh Ayachi.
(Overseas players)
Andrew Tye (Australia), Moises Henriques (Australia), Sam Curran (England) and David Miller (South Africa).
Purse remaining: INR 42.70 CR
Slots available: 9
Overseas slots: 4