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#1 Steve Smith
After finishing bottom in the IPL points table last season, Rajasthan Royals released their captain Steve Smith ahead of the upcoming season. The Aussie will now go under the hammer during the IPL 2021 Player Auction which will be held in Chennai on February 18th.
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A solid batsman, Smith can lend stability to Kings XI Punjab's middle order, which collapsed on numerous occasions last season. His presence will release some captaincy pressure from KL Rahul as well, who is still inexperienced as a captain.
The 31-year-old has represented Australia in 45 T20Is and has scored 794 runs at an average of 27.38 with a strike rate of 129.53. His record in IPL is decent too and he has scored 2333 runs at an average of 35.35 with a strike rate of 129.25 in his 95 appearances in the tournament so far. The Sydney-born batsman also has one century and 11 half-centuries to his name in the IPL.
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