IPL 10: Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Eoin Morgan among top stars released by franchises

New Delhi: As many as 40 players have been released from different IPL franchises as a whole after December 15, 2016 was set as the deadline.

As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, some of the big names to face the exile from their respective teams are that of Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan of England, Dale Steyn and Mone Morkel of South Africa, Jason Holder of West Indies and Mitchell Johnson of Australia.

Amongst all of the IPL teams, Rising Pune Supergiants, who finished seventh in IPL 9, released a major chunk of players with 10.

Despite having Indian limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad, Pune endured a terrible campaign and a drastic change for the next campaign was expected.

Pietersen, who couldn't complete the season followingan injury, has been released along with Indian Test pacer Ishant Sharma, allrounder Irfan Pathan and spinner Murugan Ashwin.

The other team to make their debut, Gujarat Lions have reportedly released Steyn.

Delhi Daredevils, who spent Rs. 8.5 crores on allrounder Pawan Negi, have set the player free after he couldn't feature in most of the matches for the team.

Kolkata Night Riders, meanwhile, have released overseas player – Jason Holder, John Hastings and Morne Morkel while champions Sunrisers Hyderabad have let a bunch of players go in the form of Ashish Reddy and T Suman along with England ODI skipper Morgan.

Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore are also belived to have relased players but the names can't be confirmed as of now.

The salary cap at Rs 63 crore, isn't expected to increase this year, forcing the franchises to release non-performers in order to create space from new signings.