CSK releases Billings, Willey, Mohit

Chennai : Three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings on Friday released England cricketers Sam Billings and David Willey besides three Indian players ahead of next month's auction.

The team announced on Twitter the decision to release wicketkeeper-batsman Billings and all-rounder Willey along with former World Cupper Mohit Sharma, Dhruv Shorey and Chaitanya Bishnoi.

CSK goes into the December 19 auction with an available purse of Rs 14.6 crore.

Willey had missed the 2019 IPL due to personal reasons as he and his wife were expecting their second child. Since it was not an injury, the team couldn't get a replacement for the Yorkshire man.

The 29-year-old had joined the team as a replacement player in 2018 and featured in three matches.

Billings also had been part of the squad in the past two seasons. He had played ten games in MS Dhoni-led CSK's title-winning run in 2018 including a match-winning 56 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the M A Chidambaram stadium here. Shorey played a solitary match in the 2019 season while Bishnoi did not get to play.

Mohit too was confined to the bench with the emergence of Deepak Chahar as a key bowler for CSK during the run to the final last season.

The team has retained the core of players which includes skipper Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson among others.