Yuvraj Singh. (TOI Photo)

MUMBAI: India's 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh , left-arm spinner Axar Patel , Australia's current limited overs skipper Aaron Finch are amongst the 11 players released by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the 2019 IPL auction, according to exclusive information available with TOI.

A pale shadow of his former explosive self now, the 36-year-old Yuvraj managed just 65 runs at an abysmal average of 10.83 in the eight games he played for the Kings last season. With 134 runs in 10 games@16.75, the usually consistent Finch too didn't find runs. Patel was the only player retained by the Mohali-based team, which went for a complete revamp last season before the auctions. The tall all-rounder has been a regular member of the Kings side, but lost his spot in the squad after taking just three wickets in nine games @72.66 (Economy rate 8.38), and scoring 80 runs @13.33.

Others who have been released are Ben Dwarshuis, former India pacers Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran, batsman Manoj Tiwary, Kashmir's Manzoor Dar, Akshdeep Nath and Mayank Dagar. Kings XI finished seventh out of eight teams in the 2018 IPL.

The Kings had earlier traded Marcus Stoinis for Mandeep Singh from RCB. Nine players, including skipper Ravichandran Ashwin and India opener KL Rahul, besides Mayank Agarwal and Ankit Rajpoot have been retained. Amongst the foreigners who've been retained is West Indies' opening great Chris Gayle, South Africa's David Miller, Australian pacer Andrew Tye and Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rehman.

The Kings had earlier hired a new coach in Mike Hesson, who was in charge of New Zealand before.

November 15 was the last date for the franchises to announce their list of retained and released players ahead of the player auction on December 17 in Jaipur.

