1. Players released
Sam Billings, David Willey, Mohit Sharma, Dhruv Shorey and Chaitanya Bishnoi.
2. Why they were released
Sam Billings and David Willey, the England duo, had joined Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2019. Billings had a match-winning fifty in his opening match for Chennai but failed to live up to the expectations in the subsequent matches. Willey, a pace bowling all-rounder, too could not find his range for Chennai on a regular basis. While former India pacer Mohit Sharma was having some trouble with injuries for a while now, forcing the Chennai outfit to let go the former Purple Cap holder.
3. Players retained
The core players like captain MS Dhoni, vice-captain Suresh Raina, Shane Watson, spinner Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir etc were retained.
4. Purse available
Chennai had Rs 3.2 crore left in their purse after the IPL 2019 auction. The Super Kings have earned Rs 8.4 crore via releasing five players and there is additional Rs 3 crore from the BCCI side. Now, they can spent Rs 14.6 crore in the IPL 2020 auction next month.