Rajasthan Royals released Steve Smith ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, with Glenn Maxwell and Lasith Malinga let go by the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Mumbai Indians (MI) respectively as well. MI further opted to release Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell McClenaghan, Sherfane Rutherford, James Pattinson, Digvijay Deshmukh and Prince Balwant Rai. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) retained 12 players, with Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Isuru Udana the big names released by the Bangalore-based franchise. Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to announce that his contract with the three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has ended. The Chennai-based franchise released Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla among the other big names barring Harbhajan. Other franchises did not make very noteworthy omissions maintaining an emphasis on retaining the core. 

Indian Premier League 2021 Player Retention Highlights