IPL 2019: Rajasthan Royals retain Steve Smith; release Jaydev Unadkat

Ahead of the upcoming season of the India Premier League (IPL), Australian star batsman Steve Smith is one of the star players named among the retained players

Ahead of the upcoming season of the India Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals on Thursday announced the names of the 16 players retained by them; Australian star batsman Steve Smith is one of the star players named among the retained players. Apart of Smith, England star players like Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer too have also been retained by the franchise.

The release of Jaydev Unadkat comes after Rajasthan bid INR 11.5 crore for him at the 2018 auction. Unadkat had an underwhelming season, getting just 11 wickets in 15 matches, with an economy rate of 7.80.

"The results in the previous season have been impressive and that is why we have decided not to disturb the balance of the squad," Zubin Bharucha, head of cricket at the franchise, told Cricbuzz.

Retained: Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Ajinkya Rahane, K Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror

Out: Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma, Jatin Saxena, D'Arcy Short, Ben Laughlin

In: None