Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes and Hardik Pandya not retained ahead of IPL 2022

KL Rahul will also be up for grabs next month as the deadline strikes for the eight existing franchises to confirm a maximum of four players for the next tournament

Rashid Khan, Ben Stokes and Hardik Pandya are the headline names not retained ahead of next year's Indian Premier League season.

The trio are now available to join either of the two new franchises, based in Ahmedabad and Lucknow, before December 25 or be part of the mega auction involving all 10.

KL Rahul, the top run-scorer from the 2020 tournament, is also unattached after his exit from Punjab Kings was confirmed.

The eight existing teams were allowed to retain a maximum of four players from their 2021 roster, a combination of two or three Indian players and one or two overseas stars.

All remaining players will now go back into the main pool and be available in the auction if they are not signed up as one of the three new additions made by the two new franchises.

Deductions are made from each team's total purse for the auction depending on how many players they choose to retain.

As well as Rashid not being kept on, Sunrisers Hyderabad have also lost the services of Jonny Bairstow and T20 World Cup player of the tournament David Warner. They have opted to keep Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik.

England pair Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer have both missed out at Rajasthan Royals after injuries affected their involvement during the 2021 tournament. There is also no place for Chris Morris or Liam Livingstone.

^{Rishabh Pant leads the retained contingent at the Capitals}

The Royals did retain Jos Buttler, alongside captain Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Reigning champions Chennai Super Kings have kept on captain MS Dhoni, allrounder Moeen Ali and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad. Dwayne Bravo and Faf Du Plessis' second spells at CSK are over for the time being, with Shardul Thakur also having to make do in the auction.

There has been a major clear-out of big names at Mumbai Indians with Trent Boult, as well as Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya all let go. Skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard remain.

Virat Kohli may have stood down as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain but he stays on alongside Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj.

Kolkata Knight Riders have released Eoin Morgan and Lockie Ferguson in order to keep hold of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. They are joined by Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer.

Punjab Kings have kept at least one front-line batter in the form of Mayank Agarwal, as well as Arshdeep Singh. They are the only side not to fill an overseas berth.

Kagiso Rabada and Ravichandran Ashwin have departed Delhi Capitals, who will build their new squad around Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw and Anrich Nortje.

Attention now turns to the newly-formed sides based in Ahmedabad and Lucknow, who can make three signings between December 1-25, before the mega auction takes place in January.