IPL 2021 Player Retention List: Big News For Dhoni, Raina Fans; CSK 'Confirms' Participation For Next Season

IPL 2021 Player Retention List: As per sources, CSK has also released players including Kedar Jadhav, Murali Vijay, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh. Meanwhile, Shane Watson had announced his retirement last year.  

(File Photo)

IPL 2021 Player Retention List: In one of the biggest news of the Indian Permier League (IPL), the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is most likely to retain former Indian skipper Mahindra Singh Dhoni along with Suresh Raina for the forcoming season of the IPL. According to sources close to ABP News, both the players have even confirmed their participation for the franchise. Earlier, both Dhoni and Raina had announced retirement from international cricket on the same day last year.

As per sources, CSK has also released players including Kedar Jadhav, Murali Vijay, Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh. Meanwhile, Shane Watson had announced his retirement last year.  Other players like Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo will be part of CSK along with Sam Curran. 

CSK ended their IPL 2020 season on a high, following a third successive victory but it wasn't enough for them to avoid their worst-ever finish in the tournament. This was the first time that they failed to finish within the top four in a season and both coach Stephen Fleming and captain MS Dhoni had said they will look to restructure the squad, especially change the core group, ahead of the next season.

With most of the squad ageing, both skipper Dhoni, who could be playing his final season next year, and coach Fleming were quoted saying that there will massive rejig made for next year especially in the core group.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals (RR) is most likely to drop captain Steve Smith from squad after the Australian's contract expired. Under Smith's captaincy, the inaugural edition champions RR finished last in the last IPL in the UAE, where the star Australian batsman played all the 14 league matches and scored 311 runs at a strike rate of 131.

Other Expected Retention & Realease In IPL 2021:

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is most likely to release players like Shivam Dube, Chris Morris and Parthiv Patel - who announced retirement last year.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will not be releasing Dinesh Karthik, to drop Tom Banton.

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) is expected to retain Chris Gayle and drop Karun Nair and Sheldon Cottrell.

Delhi Capitals (DC) is most likely to retain Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis and may release Shimron Hetmyer, Sandip Lammichane, Alex Carey and Jason Roy.

The official list of retained players for the next IPL season will be announced in the evening today (Wednesday).