Rajasthan Royals release Steve Smith

Ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League auction, Rajasthan Royals have released their skipper Steve Smith. Apparently, the franchise has taken the decision after Smith’s ineffective gesture as the captain and a batsman in IPL 2020.

“His contract expired and we have decided not to renew it. Steve has had a huge contribution but we had to take a call after much deliberation,” the official told the Sportstar. 

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 Smith was made the captain in 2018 when the team made its comeback after serving a two-year ban. But failed to feature in that edition in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. He retained his captaincy in 2019 when the team considered it as a “fresh approach”. In the 13th edition of the IPL, Smith could not find the rhythm of captaincy as the franchise ended the league at the bottom of the table. He played all the 14 matches in 2020 but he scored only 311 runs.