The 2008 IPL winners Rajasthan Royals (RR) had a terrible tournament in 2020 in UAE, as they finished at the bottom of the points table and failed to qualify for the playoffs. They also submitted their list of retained and released players to the BCCI and the IPL GC ahead of the 2021 IPL auction.

In a surprising move, RR decided to part ways with their IPL 2020 captain Steve Smith and also gave the captaincy to young Sanju Samson for the upcoming IPL 2021. The release of Steve Smith also freed up INR 12.50 crores for the franchise, to be used in the auction.

List of released players by Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith, Oshane Thomas, Tom Curran, Varun Aaron, Ankit Rajpoot, Anirudh, Akash Singh, Shashank Singh

IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders- List of players retained and released

Rajasthan Royals squad after player retention:

Sanju Samson (C), Manan Vohra, David Miller, Robin Uthappa, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande, Andrew Tye

Purse remaining: INR 34.85 Crores; Overseas slots remaining: 3.