New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS): Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday announced Sanju Samson as the new skipper for the Indian Premier League 2021 season. Australia batsman Steve Smith, who failed to make an impact with bat and captaincy, has been released. RR, who finished last in the 2020 edition released eight players.

The list of foreign players retained includes Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer. All three English players performed well for the Royals in the last tournament. Jofra Archer was the top wicket-taker for the Royals in the 2020 edition with 20 wickets while Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes have also contributed in Rajasthan Royals' important wins in recent past. In addition to the English trio, David Miller and Andrew Tye have also been retained.

Retained players:

Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Robin Uthappa.

Released Players:

Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Anirudha Joshi, Shashank Singh.