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Follow UsIt’s time to finally put all speculations to rest as the Indian Premier League (IPL) have officially announced the retention rules ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction.
Each team will be allowed to retain a maximum of six players, in which no more than five should be capped players.
The franchises will be provided with six retention slots; it’s up to the sides to utilise it the way they want it — it can be four retentions and two RTMs, three retentions and three RTMs and so on.
The official announcement, then, has brought about a plethora of retention possibilities for each side. We’re here to look at which players each franchise will retain.
According to both Cricbuzz and ESPNCricinfo, the retention slabs are as follows: 18 cr, 14 cr, 11 cr, 18 cr, 14 cr, 4 cr (uncapped).
But since franchises also have the power to pay more than the minimum amount to a particular individual — for instance, RCB can pay Virat Kohli 22 cr instead of 18 cr — we are not going to delve too much into who will be getting how much. In this article, we’re just going to look at who each franchise can realistically retain.
For convenience’s sake, ‘top retentions’ here refers to players who will be getting over 14 crore and ‘secondary retentions’ refers to those who will likely get 11 cr.
Mumbai Indians
Top retentions - Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya
Secondary retentions - Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan
Uncapped retentions - Nehal Wadhera or Anshul Kamboj
RTM - None
Big players they might part ways with - Rohit Sharma, Tim David & Gerald Coetzee
Considering MI can realistically only retain three of its ‘Big Four’ due to budget constraints, it’s highly likely they will part ways with Rohit Sharma.
Rohit, mind you, has already retired from T20Is and will be turning 38 mid-way through IPL 2025, so not retaining him — who will cost at least 12% of the total purse — will give the franchise flexibility and some cushion heading into the auction.
That being said, there’s also the possibility that MI might retain all the four big guns and try their luck with RTM. However, doing so will mean them blowing more than 50% of their budget on just four players. That could spell disaster.
Chennai Super Kings
Top retentions - Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja
Secondary retentions - Matheesha Pathirana
Uncapped retentions - MS Dhoni & Sameer Rizvi
RTM - Shivam Dube
Big players they might part ways with - Devon Conway, Deepak Chahar, Moeen Ali & Shardul Thakur
At least four retentions are crystal clear for CSK: Gaikwad, Jadeja, Dhoni & Pathirana. The new rule enabling them to retain Dhoni for just INR 4 crore is massive. It’ll eventually come down to whether they want to retain Shivam Dube for 14+ crore or think they can get the left-hander at a cheaper price through RTM. Not retaining Dube will enable CSK to retain another uncapped player in Sameer Rizvi.
They could potentially use their RTM on Tushar Deshpande or Shardul Thakur if they are unable to retain or buy back Dube.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Top retentions - Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj and Cameron Green
Secondary retentions - Rajat Patidar
Uncapped retentions - Yash Dayal
RTM - Will Jacks or Glenn Maxwell
Big players they might part ways with - Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell
Again, three very straightforward retentions for RCB up top. You’d assume that, between them, Kohli, Siraj and Green will cost the franchise somewhere around INR 50 crore to retain. The 11 crore retention will likely be Rajat Patidar and the uncapped retention is also straightforward — Yash Dayal.
Things will become slightly complicated if Dayal gets capped. In that case, RCB might retain either Vyshak Vijaykumar or Manoj Bhandage as the uncapped player.
The RTM part is interesting. The franchise will certainly prioritise Will Jacks, but will they be tempted to get back Maxwell if he comes at an ‘attainable’ price that won’t spoil their plans?
Kolkata Knight Riders
Top retentions - Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine
Secondary retentions - Rinku Singh
Uncapped retentions - Harshit Rana (or Angkrish Raghuvanshi if Rana gets capped)
RTM - Varun Chakravarthy or Venkatesh Iyer
Big players they might part ways with - Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt & Nitish Rana
Things will drastically change for KKR if Harshit Rana gets capped in the next month or so, which is a very high possibility. They will then have to retain Angkrish Raghuvanshi or Suyash Sharma as the uncapped player. That will also mean they can only secure one of Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, or Harshit Rana via RTM.
As it stands, KKR’s fate rests on Gautam Gambhir’s hands. They’ll be sorted if he does not pick Rana for India but there’ll be a lot of complications if the youngster ends up making his debut.
That being said, Rana can also refuse to be retained as an uncapped player because, let’s be honest, he will fetch way more than 4 crore if he goes into the auction. Keep an eye out for this particular dynamic.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Top retentions - Pat Cummins, Travis Head & Heinrich Klaasen
Secondary retentions - Abhishek Sharma
Uncapped retentions - Nitish Kumar Reddy (or Mayank Markande if Reddy gets capped)
RTM - T Natarajan
Big players they might part ways with - Aiden Markram, Bhuvneshwar Kumar & Marco Jansen
SRH have the most straightforward four retentions, and the fact that there is no cap on the number of foreigners retained is a huge blessing for them. However, like KKR, they will be in trouble if Nitish Reddy gets capped by India. That will mean they will only be able to use the RTM on one of Reddy or Natarajan.
The good news is that even if Reddy gets capped, they can retain a quality uncapped player in Mayank Markande, due to the introduction of the new rule.
Delhi Capitals
Top retentions - Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav & Axar Patel
Secondary retentions - None
Uncapped retentions - Abishek Porel
RTM - Tristan Stubbs & Jake Fraser-McGurk
Big players they might part ways with - David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Mukesh Kumar & Anrich Nortje
Delhi are arguably the most sorted of the 10 franchises. No headaches, no hard goodbyes. They can essentially retain their entire core and that too without blowing half their budget like some of the other teams.
They can also retain a very good, quality, uncapped player in Abishek Porel, who has enormous potential.
The only complication will be if one of Stubbs or Fraser-McGurk end up going for an absurd price at the auction. Then they’ll have to do away with one of the two.
Lucknow Super Giants
Top retentions - KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran
Secondary retentions - Ravi Bishnoi
Uncapped retentions - Mayank Yadav (or Ayush Badoni if Mayank gets capped)
RTM - Marcus Stoinis or Mohsin Khan
Big players they might part ways with - Quinton de Kock, Krunal Pandya & Devdutt Padikkal
As of this moment, LSG will be praying that Mayank Yadav does not get capped by India. Because if he does, they will either have to splash 11 cr+ on him or try to get him back for possibly an even higher price via RTM. But if Mayank remains uncapped, they can retain the youngster for just INR 4 crore.
Should Mayank get capped, LSG will then have to retain one of Badoni or Mohsin as the uncapped player.
At this point, it looks very unlikely that they will go after Quinton de Kock, so Stoinis is the only other RTM-able player they have.
Rajasthan Royals
Top retentions - Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Secondary retentions - Riyan Parag
Uncapped retentions - Sandeep Sharma
RTM - Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan or Ravichandran Ashwin
Big players they might part ways with - Shimron Hetmyer, Trent Boult and Dhruv Jurel
The new ‘Dhoni’ rule has come as a boon not just for CSK but also for RR. It means that they now can retain Sandeep Sharma for just INR 4 crore. The other retentions are straightforward for RR, but they have a huge decision to make when it comes to RTM.
The franchise can only retain one of their three gun bowlers. So, do they go with the younger, promising Avesh or one of the veterans? In the end, it might just come down to Chahal vs Avesh. It’ll be an extremely difficult choice as you can make a solid case to retain both players.
RTM Avesh and try to get Chahal in the auction maybe?
Gujarat Titans
Top retentions - Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan
Secondary retentions - David Miller
Uncapped retentions - Abhinav Manohar or Rahul Tewatia or Shahrukh Khan
RTM - Sai Sudharsan
Big players they might part ways with - Kane Williamson & Sai Kishore
In terms of retentions, the only headache GT have is who to retain between David Miller and Sai Sudharsan. You do get the sense that they might retain Miller because of both his experience and profile. That will mean they will try to RTM Sudharsan. This is a fair call because the Gill-Sudharsan opening stand really clicked towards the back end of last season; it’s a blessing to have two Indian batters up top that can guarantee at least 450 runs in a season.
An unusual headache GT have is with the uncapped player retention. They have so many options: Manohar, Tewatia and Shahrukh but also Vijay Shankar and Mohit Sharma due to the new rule. Considering Tewatia and Shahrukh might not agree getting retained for INR 4 crore — because both players will definitely fetch more at the auction — it might come down between Shankar and Manohar.
Punjab Kings
Top retentions - Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh
Secondary retentions - Liam Livingstone
Uncapped retentions - Shashank Singh and/or Prabhsimran Singh
RTM - Harshal Patel and/or Kagiso Rabada
Big players they might part ways with - Jonny Bairstow & Rahul Chahar
Punjab are genuinely one team capable of even going into the auction with just one uncapped retention and five RTMs. That will give the new coach, Ricky Ponting, insane flexibility at the auction table. But then again, that will be a big risk; you don’t want to be entering the auction with only one player in your squad. So you feel Ponting might opt to retain the core, even if it’s a tad expensive.
There is a strong chance that the Kings, even if they don’t retain him, might RTM and get back Harshal Patel. But that might depend on the price he fetches at the auction table.
All said and done, it’ll be fascinating to see PBKS’ strategy heading into the auction.
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