IPL Player Retention 2020 Results: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli Retained

Excitement for the 2020 Indian Premier League season was ramped up on Friday after the eight teams confirmed their retained players for next year's event. 

There were minimal surprises for defending champions Mumbai Indians, with their star batsman and captain Rohit Sharma in the squad again for next season. He will be joined by the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, who were key to the team's success last term.

Here are the players released by their respective sides ahead of the IPL 2020 auction on December 19, per ESPNcricinfo:

Chennai Super Kings: Chaitanya Bishnoi, David Willey, Dhruv Shorey, Mohit Sharma, Sam Billings, Scott Kuggeleijn

Delhi Capitals: Ankush Bains, B Ayyappa, Chris Morris, Colin Ingram, Colin Munro, Hanuma Vihari, Jalaj Saxena, Manjot Kalra, Nathu Singh

Kings XI Punjab: Agnivesh Ayachi, Andrew Tye, David Miller, Moises Henriques, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Varun Chakravarthy

Kolkata Knight Riders: Anrich Nortje, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Lynn, Joe Denly, KC Cariappa, Matt Kelly, Nikhil Naik, Piyush Chawla, Prithvi Raj Yarra, Robin Uthappa, Shrikant Mundhe

Mumbai Indians: Adam Milne, Alzarri Joseph, Barinder Sran, Ben Cutting, Beuran Hendricks, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendorff, Pankaj Jaswal, Rasikh Dar, Yuvraj Singh

Rajasthan Royals: Aryaman Birla, Ashton Turner, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Liam Livingstone, Oshane Thomas, Prashant Chopra, Rahul Tripathi, Shubham Ranjane, Stuart Binny, Sudhesan Midhun

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Akshdeep Nath, Colin de Grandhomme, Dale Steyn, Heinrich Klassen, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Marcus Stoinis, Milind Kumar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prayas Ray Barman, Shimron Hetmyer, Tim Southee

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Deepak Hooda, Martin Guptill, Ricky Bhui, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan

The list of retained players in full is available via the IPL website.

The CrickTracker account shared the respective budgets of each team following the announcements on Friday:

Virat Kohli is set to be the highest-paid player in the competition again, and he will skipper Royal Challengers Bangalore. The India captain will be hoping his team can have better fortunes this term after finishing bottom of the table in 2019.

The team will have something of a facelift next year, though, with Stoinis, Coulter-Nile, De Grandhomme and Southee all let go, as well as young West Indies batsman Hetmyer.

Elsewhere, the Rajasthan Royals will also be seeking to make a return to the play-offs and appear in strong shape to do so after confirming the retention of some big names.

Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer all played starring roles in England's ICC World Cup win in the summer. All three were crucial in the team eventually beating New Zealand in the final of the competition in a super over:

Australian Steve Smith is a phenomenal batsman in all forms of the game, and he will take over from Ajinkya Rahane as captain on a full-time basis this year.

The Royals posted the following clip confirming some of their team members for next season's event:

MS Dhoni will be seeking to lead the Chennai Super Kings to victory after coming up short in last year's final. Last year's top run-scorer in the competition, David Warner, is also back for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will once again be led by Kane Williamson.

Wisden summed up just how prolific the Australian opener was in the event a year ago:

Meanwhile, it's Kings XI Punjab who look likely to be the most active side in the auction, as they have the most salary cap available. The trade of former captain Ravichandran Ashwin to Delhi Capitals, and the release of some high-profile overseas stars, are the reasons behind them having plenty of money to spend in the player auction on December 19.

Two of the biggest names released by the Kolkata Knight Riders were Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa.