Steve Smith delighted he is retained by Rajasthan Royals for IPL season
Jaipur, Jan 5 (IBNS): Australian skipper Steve Smith has said he is delighted to be retained in the Rajasthan Royals side for the upcoming IPL season.
"Delighted to be retained by the @rajasthanroyals for IPL 2018! Looking forward to marching with the Royals again. Halla Bol and Happy New Year #VivoIPLonStar," Smith tweeted.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has retained its skipper Virat Kohli for the 11th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) while former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is all set to reunite with his old franchise Chennai Super Kings in the tournament from this year, media reports said.
Chennai Super Kings, which were banned from the tournament for two years, also kept Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja.
Apart from Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan and South African player AB de Villiers have been retained by RCB.
In an interesting move, Kolkata Knight Riders released their two-time trophy winning captain Gautam Gambhir. KKR have retained Windies player Sunil Narine and Andre Russel.
With no surprise, Mumbai Indians retained their captain Rohit Sharma along with Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.
Australian David Warner and Indian fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Delhi Daredevils kept their young players like Sreyas Iyer and Rishav Pant along with fast bowler Chris Morris.
Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab have retained one player each in their teams. While RR kept Steve Smith, KXIP retained spinner Axar Patel.
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, teams banned over match-fixing scandal, will return to IPL from 2018.
Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, which played in places of CSK and RR, will not feature in the 11th edition of the tournament.
