Mumbai sign Rayudu, Sathish

Ambati Rayudu, R Sathish, Dhawal Kulkarni and Siddharth Trivedi, some of the most sought-after uncapped players in the IPL, have decided to stay back with the franchises where they gained prominence. Rayudu, Sathish and Kulkarni will remain with Mumbai Indians while Trivedi has opted to play for Rajasthan Royals, with whom he won the inaugural IPL in 2008.

It is understood that four franchises were keen to rope in Kulkarni, who has been with Mumbai from the first year. There were also many takers for the pair of Rayudu and Sathish, both of whom had joined Mumbai last year after cancelling their contracts with the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2009. Both made an instant impact and were vital in Mumbai reaching the finals in the third season.

Rayudu impressed with the bat, scoring 246 runs at a strike-rate of 144.71, and carried that form into the Ranji season in which he was Baroda's top-scorer with 566 runs, including an unbeaten double-century against Orissa. Sathish made a name for himself as a livewire in the field during the third season of the IPL, and averaged 42.57 for Tamil Nadu over the 2010-11 Ranji season.

The other players who have also decided to stay with their former teams include left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati of Goa and Tamil Nadu batsman Abhinav Mukund. The pair played for Chennai Super Kings in the previous three years. Interestingly, Chennai was the only team which decided to stick to the winning squad it had built over the three years, fighting hard during the auction to retain most of the original squad. Chennai have also signed Tamil Nadu seamer Yo Mahesh, who was part of Delhi Daredevils' squad for the first three seasons.

In addition to Trivedi the other players Rajasthan retained were Abhishek Raut and Aditya Dole, who played for them last season. But they failed to retain Bengal batsman Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, who signed with Pune Warriors. Jhunjhunwala, another ICL player, had joined Rajasthan for the third season of the IPL, and proved to be an effective batsman and a handy fielder too. Delhi Daredevils lost out on the services of the seasoned allrounder Rajat Bhatia, who moved eastwards to Kolkata Knight Riders.