Gambhir, Maxwell released by DD

Gautam Gambhir and Glenn Maxwell are among the big names to have been released by Delhi Daredevils ahead of the IPL auction. Gambhir, who returned to his home franchise last season following a successful stint with Kolkata Knight Riders, was dropped midway following his lean run and the team's poor start. He subsequently warmed the benches for the remainder of the season with Shreyas Iyer taking over captaincy from him.

Maxwell, on the other hand, was one of the biggest buys in the auction last year but his failure to fire in the middle order has resulted in his release. Liam Plunkett and Junior Dala, who were signed as replacements for Chris Morris and Kagiso Rabada, have been let go, with the South African duo being retained. England opener Jason Roy, Australian allrounder Daniel Christian, Indian seamer Mohammed Shami have also been released by the Daredevils.

Apart from Morris and Rabada, Colin Munro, Trent Boult and young Nepal sensation Sandeep Lamichhane are the other overseas players who will be plying their trade with Daredevils this season. Among the Indian players, Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and veteran Amit Mishra are the high-profile names that have been retained. Daredevils had already traded the trio of Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma with SRH to acquire the services of India opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Retained: Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult

Released: Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Junior Dala, Liam Plunkett, Mohammed Shami, Sayan Ghosh, Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Naman Ojha

Traded: Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Abhishek Sharma for Shikhar Dhawan