New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) The date for trading is over and the eight Indian Premier League teams have finalised the players they wish to retain and the ones they will release as they get ready for the auctions in Kolkata on December 19.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) retained their core team, including Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga, while releasing 12 players as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) let go of Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa while Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) released some big overseas names ahead of next month's auctions.

Defending champions MI, who have won the title a record four times, released Australia's Jason Behrendorff and Ben Cutting, Alzarri Joseph of the West Indies, New Zealand's Adam Milne and Beuran Hendricks of South Africa.

They have retained 18 players which helped them win it's fourth title earlier this year. Former India allrounder Yuvraj Singh, who called time on his international career earlier this year, was also released. The three traded-ins for the franchise are Kiwi seamer Trent Boult, West Indian Sherfane Rutherford and local boy Dhawal Kulkarni.

Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli's RCB have released the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile of Australia, Kiwis Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee, Dale Steyn of South Africa and Shimron Hetmyer of the West Indies.

Other big names to have been released include Jaydev Unadkat (Rajasthan Royals), Chris Morris (Delhi Capitals), Mohit Sharma (Chennai Super Kings) and Colin Ingram (Delhi Capitals).

Sunrisers Hyderabad released a few big names too, including Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan and Martin Guptill. Shakib has been banned from all forms of cricket by the ICC for two years for failing to report match fixing approaches.

Three-time winners Chennai Super Kings have released England cricketers Sam Billings and David Willey besides three Indian players. CSK announced on social media that they have released wicketkeeper-batsman Billings and all-rounder Willey along with Mohit Sharma, Dhruv Shorey and Chaitanya Bishnoi.

Coming to Rajasthan Royals, Australian star batsman Steve Smith will lead the inaugural champions after having taken over from Ajinkya Rahane mid-season in the last edition. Royals announced that they would retain 11 and release 11 players.

Ahead of the retention deadline, key trading took place in which India's Test vice captain Ajinkya Rahane was traded to Delhi Capitals for spinner Mayank Markande and all-rounder Rahul Tewatia.

Kings XI Punjab have released dashing South Africa batsman David Miller after eight seasons along with Sam Curran of England and Australian pacer Andrew Tye.

They also released Tamil Nadu spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was bought at last year's auction for a whopping Rs 8.4 crore.

Delhi Capitals, meanwhile, have already made a couple of high-profile trades with ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin coming from Kings XI Punjab and Rahane jumping ship from Rajasthan Royals.

A total of nine players have been released by Delhi Capitals. The likes of Colin Munro, Hanuma Vihari, Colin Ingram, Chris Morris have been released by the Delhi outfit.

List of players released:
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 Chakaravarthy

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

--IANS dm/arm