Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 15 (ANI): Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru have parted ways with England all-rounder Liam Livingstone, their only significant overseas release ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, scheduled to take place on December 16.

Apart from Livingstone, South Africa's versatile speedster Lungi Ngidi, who primarily featured as a reserve, has been let go. New Zealand power hitter Tim Seifert and Zimbabwe speedster Blessing Muzarabani are the other two overseas players who have left the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Yash Dayal, who spearheaded RCB's attack with his left-arm pace deliveries, has been retained for the 19th edition of the cash-rich league.

Dayal hasn't played any form of cricket since lifting the title on June 3. Since the famed final, the 27-year-old has been involved in legal trouble after being accused of exploitation on the pretext of marriage by a woman from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad towards the end of June.

Among other release features, the opening batter Mayank Agarwal, who was signed as a replacement for the injured India batter Devdutt Padikkal. Swastik Chikara, a promising talent, leaves Bengaluru without playing a game.

'Having had such a good season, we are trying to find the balance between continuity and stability, but also striving for improvement. We want to make sure we arrive at the competition in an even stronger place than last season. We are sure our players will arrive better, and we will aim to improve their ability to impact games. We also want to improve the squad. We want to do that in the auction and create competition for places. That was a priority,' Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, said after the announcement of the retention list.

'One of the features of our squad and our environment last year was how connected and together everybody was. Everybody really bought into what we were trying to achieve. Andy did a great job, as he always does, of leading the changing room as head coach, but Rajat (Patidar), too, and the senior players did an excellent job in the environment and culture that was created and how people really worked together. That was a feature of the whole campaign. It is really sad to say goodbye to anybody there,' Bobat added.

RCB head coach Andy Flower weighed in on the list of retained and released players while ensuring that they will look to strengthen their squad with a budget of Rs 16.4 crore.

'We have been able to retain a really strong squad with, obviously, a great recent history of playing winning cricket and playing some outstanding cricket. I feel for the players that we are releasing, because I am pretty sure they loved the experience as much as I did last year,' Flower said.

'Of course, we will look to strengthen our squad, but in saying that, we are comfortable with retaining a strong base and a strong core of the team and the squad. So there is less movement than there was in the big auction last year,' Flower added.

Flower explained that RCB will use the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scheduled to begin on November 26, as a platform to identify prospects who will fit into their setup in Bengaluru.

'Mo and Malolan have structured a very good scouting system. We are able to scout around the world and, very importantly, domestically around India. That is an important part of the off-season. We have been keeping a very close eye on people's form and fitness, not just our players, but also other players that we might have an interest in. It is good to see a lot of our players still in very good form,' Flower said.

'There is a lot of cricket between now and the auction itself. There is a SMAT tournament that is almost going to be completed by the time the auction happens, and obviously, a lot of cricket before the next IPL. We will be watching intently and growing our understanding of the players that we work really closely with,' Flower added.

Retained Players: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thushara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Rasikh Dar.

Released Players: Swastik Chikara, Mayank Agarwal, Tim Seifert, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee. (ANI)