Mumbai: After the deadline (November 15) for franchises to extend player contracts, 127 players, including 35 overseas cricketers were retained by the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.

Kings XI Punjab (Rs 42.70 crore) now have the highest salary cap available going into the auction while Royal Challengers Bangalore (12) have the most number of player slots available (including 6 overseas slots). After today’s deadline, Chennai Super Kings (20) have the largest squad size.

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Of the eight franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore (12) have released the most players while Sunrisers Hyderabad (5) have released the least players from their squad.

"For the 13th season of IPL, we want a balanced core team. The process of retention and release of players is always a difficult decision and yet a pivotal part of the team selection," Sanjeev Churiwala, chairman of RCB, said in an official statement.

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"While we acknowledge the contribution of all our players in the previous sessions, in preparation to the upcoming season, we have further fine-tuned the squad and have decided to release players in order to get closer to our current cricket strategy. So, here's hoping for a good start to the next season of IPL," he added.

The players auction will be held on December 19 in Kolkata.

Here are the squads ahead of the IPL 2020 auction in December

Take a look at the players released by all 8 teams