Indian Premier League 2017: Top Players Including Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni Retained By Franchises
The Indian Premier League 2017 may be a little different in terms of who will be running the show, with the Supreme Court and the Board of Control for Cricket in India in a wrangle about administrative and personnel changes. However, the franchises are going on with the preparations, and there are few surprises in the number of players retained
Highlights
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Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni are among the players retained by IPL franchises
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140 players have been retained by the 8 franchises for the 2017 season
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The IPL 2017 auction is tentatively scheduled for February 4, 2017
Top names like Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were among the list of 140 players, including 44 overseas players, to be retained by the eight franchises ahead of 2017 Indian Premier League season.
Among the players retained are all the big guns, which is no surprise. Rising Pune Supergiants have retained Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin, as well as Australian captain Steve Smith and South African Faf du Plessis.
Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo stay with Gujarat Lions.
Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore retained a maximum of 20 players each. Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, as well as Harbhajan Singh are with Mumbai.
Indian cricket's current superstar Virat Kohli leads the RCB star-studded line-up, along with AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Mitchell Starc.
Kolkata Knight Riders retained 14 players.
Notable among Dale Steyn (Gujarat Lions), who has been suffering injuries which have kept him out of action, while Mumbai have released Corey Anderson of New Zealand, among others.
According to a release from BCCI Honorary Secretary Ajay Shirke, the franchises have spent a total of 384.67 crores, while a combined purse of 143.33 crores remains.
The auction for the IPL 2017 is tentatively scheduled for February 4, 2017.