IPL 2019: McCullum, Woakes & Sarfaraz among 10 players released by RCB

RCB, who have never won the league, have retained the core of their team which includes captain Virat Kohli and former South African legend AB de Villiers.

Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday released their lists of retained and released players ahead of the IPL auction. Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, England paceman Chris Woakes and young sensation Sarfaraz Khan are the big names to have received the boot from the franchise.

File photo of Brendon McCullum playing a shot while representing Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2018. (BCCI Photo)

RCB, who have never won the league, have retained the core of their team which includes captain Virat Kohli and former South African legend AB de Villiers.

“For the next IPL season, we have a 3-pronged player selection strategy. The first vector is to have a very strong combination of core team who can consistently deliver great performance on-field. Secondly, we want to invest in more Indian talent including more local all-rounders. Lastly we want to be invested in the future and hence will actively scout for under 19 talent who we can nurture and provide a strong platform like RCB to grow,” RCB chairman Sanjeev Churiwala said in a statement.

Here is the full list of players released and retained by the team -

Retained Players: V Kohli (c), M Siraj, N Saini, K Khejroliya, P Patel, P Negi, U Yadav, W Sundar, Y Chahal, AB de Villiers, C de Grandhomme, M Ali, N Coulter-Nile, T Southee

Released Players: Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Sarfaraz Khan, Manan Vohra, Murugan Ashwin, Mandeep Singh, Corey Anderson, Aniket Choudhary, Anirudha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande.