Franchises busy rejigging their squad ahead of mini-auction

The IPL mini-auction is scheduled for 23 December in Kochi. Ahead of the auction, each franchise will submit the list of retained and released players to the BCCI. All the 10 franchises are busy in rejigging their squad for the tournament.
Delhi Capitals retained their core in Rishabh Pant, David Warner, and Prithvi Shaw while retaining 19 players on Tuesday.
The players who have been retained by the franchise from their last season’s fifth-place finish include Indian internationals Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Chetan Sakariya, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, along with Ripal Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhull, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Pravin Dubey, Vicky Ostwal and Lalit Yadav. Delhi Capitals have also retained six overseas players, including Australian batter David Warner, West Indies batter Rovman Powell, South African fast bowlers Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi, Bangladesh speedster Mustafizur Rahman and Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh.
The franchise has released four players which include Indian players Mandeep Singh, wicketkeeper KS Bharat and Ashwin Hebbar and New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert.
The Delhi Capitals traded all-rounder Shardul Thakur to Kolkata Knight Riders and brought all-rounder Aman Khan in his place.
They will go into the auction with a purse of INR 19.45 crore and will look to fill in the remaining two overseas slots. Royal Challengers Bangalore have retained most of their big names for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, with West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford being the only big name the franchise released.
The core team consisting of Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Josh Hazlewood has been retained. The side had earlier traded Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff to Mumbai Indians.
After qualifying for playoffs three consecutive times, RCB has chosen to count on its core players to win them their maiden trophy, who could also get support from youngsters like Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai and Finn Allen. The side still has INR 8.75 crore left in their purse and two overseas slots to fill as well.
“Believe in the core! 12th Man Army, here are our retained Royal Challengers who will be a part of RCB’s #Classof2023! #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers,” tweeted RCB. Rajasthan Royals, the runners-up of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, have retained a majority of their core team, but have let go two quality New Zealand all-rounders Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham and South African batter Rassie van der Dussen.
Neesham scalped five wickets in the 2021 season, in which he made three appearances and did not play in 2022. Dussen made only 22 runs in three matches in 2022 while Mitchell scored 33 in only two appearances last year. It has also released Australian bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile and Test cricket triple-centurion Karun Nair. It has shown faith in youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal as it retained these two promising southpaws with their eyes on the future.