Dhoni is back, but there’s no room for Pant, Iyer, and Shami.

By Chander Shekhar Luthra.

New Delhi : Each of the 10 Indian Premier League teams has released their lists of retained players prior to the 2025 auction.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru paid Virat Kohli Rs 21 crore to keep him, but Heinrich Klaasen smashed his record for the highest retention sum in IPL history. SunRisers Hyderabad signed the wicketkeeper-batter, the most expensive player ever kept in the game, for an astounding Rs 23 crore.

Prior to this, Kohli held the record with a Rs 17 crore retention sum. Notably, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant — three important captains — will be bidding in the IPL auction. Other highlights included the Chennai Super Kings keeping former India skipper, MS Dhoni, as an uncapped player for Rs 4 crore and the Mumbai Indians releasing Ishan Kishan.

In a surprising move, the nine-year contract of flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant with the Delhi Capitals came to a formal end.

The Mumbai Indians used an entire purse of Rs 75 crores to keep all five of their best players, including captain Hardik Pandya, Team India skippers Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, pace sensation Jasprit Bumrah, and young NT Tilak Varma.

However, KKR’s IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer is also back in the auction pool after his talks with the management broke down. On the other hand, Punjab Kings have only invested Rs 9.5 crore, the minimum amount required for retention, in Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh, two uncapped players.

They will now have four RTM (Right to Match) cards and the largest purse of Rs 110.5 crore going into the auction.

Pant is unhappy with DC staff

It is reliably learned that as soon as GMR took over from JSW management — a two-year period to manage the Delhi team between the two — skipper Rishabh Pant was apparently not happy with the selection of Venugopal Rao as a replacement for Sourav Ganguly.

Kiran Grandhi, the co-owner of GMR, appointed Rao and Hemang Badani, another former India all-rounder, to lead the coaching staff. Last month, there were reports of talks between the GMR management and Pant, but the latter refused to collaborate with the coaching staff that the new management had imposed on him.

Given Pant’s stance on coaching stff, the possibility of DC retaining him through RTM in the auctions remains uncertain.

Delhi has kept Axar Patel (Rs 16.5 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (Rs 10 crore), and Abhisek Porel (Rs 4 crore) by using a Rs 43.75 crore purse. They have two RTM cards and a purse of Rs 76.25 crore left for the auctions.

MI keeps top five

Apart from Ishan Kishan, the Mumbai Indians exercised caution by allocating the full Rs 75 crore to India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore), franchise captain Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 18 crore), Team India Test and ODI skipper Rohit Sharma (Rs 16.30 crore), and NT Tilak Varma (Rs 8 crore).

To put a lot of conjecture to rest, MI also declared that Hardik Pandya would continue to be their captain for the season.

The MI decision to maintain Tilak instead of Ishan, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter who was part of the World Cup squad, is another noteworthy aspect of the retention story. Numbers clearly demonstrate the decision. In 2022, Tilak cost Rs 1.7 crore, whereas MI invested a substantial Rs 15.25 crore on Ishan following a competitive bidding process.

Their results over the last three seasons show that, despite a value differential of more than Rs 13.5 crore, Ishan got 1,192 runs in 44 innings, whereas Tilak almost matched him by scoring 1,156 runs in just 38 outings (six fewer).

Remember, while Ishan opens the innings, Tilak typically bats at No. 5 or lower, which enhances his contribution compared to the expensive player.

Now, MI has one RTM card and a purse worth Rs 45 crore.

Kohli is inseparable from RCB

Former India skipper Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bangalore are inseparable, and this was evident from the fact that the Bengaluru side not only retained the Delhi star for Rs 21 crore but increased his price by as much as Rs 6 crore, up from Rs 15 crore in 2022.

The 35-year-old cricketer, who has been with RCB since the inception of the IPL, has so far played 252 matches and scored an impressive 8,004 runs at an average of 38.66. In the last season, he scored 741 runs and won the prestigious Orange Cap.

Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 crore) and Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) are the other two players retained by RCB. Some of the high-profile players not retained by RCB include their 2024 season’s captain, Faf du Plessis, speedster Mohammed Siraj, Australian all-rounders Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green.

RCB finished fourth last season and now has an auction purse of Rs 83 crores with three RTM cards.

Unsettled Punjab Kings

Not getting into the play-offs for 10 straight years means that the Punjab Kings never had a settled look. As a result, the franchise has only retained two rookies, wicketkeeper-opener Prabhsimran Singh and finisher Shashank Singh.

PBKS let go a number of well-known players, including Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone. Having four RTM options, the Punjab team will enter the next mega auction with the biggest purse of Rs 110.5 crores.

KKR releases a winning captain

Kolkata Knight Riders took a bold decision by not retaining last season’s winning skipper, Shreyas Iyer.

In the Chennai final, Shreyas led the team to a convincing eight-wicket victory over Pat Cummins’ Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Shreyas was worth Rs 12.25 crore but has mostly stayed out of the Indian T20I squad since then. The Delhi franchise reportedly pursuing Shreyas to lead the side after releasing Pant.

Otherwise, KKR chose the option of retaining all six players. Among those retained are Sunil Narine and Andre Russell from the West Indies for Rs 12 crore each, along with spinner Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 12 crore), finisher Rinku Singh (Rs 13 crore), and youngsters Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh for Rs 4 crore each.

Rinku’s journey with KKR has seen him play 46 matches, amassing nearly 900 runs, including four half centuries, showcasing his growth and consistency as a player. Initially playing only a few matches in his first three seasons, 2024 marked a turning point in his career. He made a significant impact by scoring 474 runs in 14 games, with an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52, including four half-centuries.

This performance was pivotal in establishing him as a key player for KKR.

Coming from Aligarh, Rinku gets a massive 2263 per cent salary hike this time around. Initially, KKR picked him up for just Rs 55 lakh in the 2022 auctions. Now, the southpaw has become the highest-paid retained player for KKR. After investing Rs 57 crore to retain six players, KKR now has a budget of Rs 63 crore to complete the list of players without any RTM card.

Hein ‘Rich’ Klaasen is in SRH list

South African Heinrich Klaasen, with a whopping salary of Rs 23 crore, has become the costliest player in IPL.

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained their core group, even if it meant taking Rs 75 crore out of the total 120 crore budget. The Sunrisers Hyderabad have retained Australian skipper Pat Cummins (Rs 18 crore), his colleague Travis Head (Rs 14 crore), Klaasen, and two Indian talents, Abhishek Sharma (Rs 14 crore) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (Rs 6 crore).

The SRH had to change their plans because of Reddy’s participation in the Bangladesh T20 series and subsequent national cap. After Reddy finally agreed to a Rs 6 crore hire, Hyderabad management expressed satisfaction and retained all six players for Rs 75 crore.

However, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan, Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Aiden Markram, Glenn Phillips, Marco Jansen ane Wanindu Hasaranga are all up for auction.

The team currently has a remaining purse of Rs 45 crore, but no RTM card is available.

Dhoni agrees, one more time

The BCCI will see former India captain and adopted son of Chennai, MS Dhoni, in action once more.

Despite receiving only Rs 4 crore for his services, his inclusion in the team held significant value for both the Chennai fans and the team’s management. The CSK has also announced the payment of Rs 18 crores to both skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and veteran Ravidra Jadeja.

The five-time champion team retained Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 13 crore) and Shivam Dube (Rs 12 crore), using Rs 65 crore from its kitty.

CSK will go into the auctions with a purse of Rs 55 crores and one RTM card.

Butler and Ashwin exit RR

Rajasthan Royals released English star performer Jos Buttler, India’s highest wicket-taker spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, and leggie Yuzvendra Chahal.

However, skipper Sanju Samson (Rs 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 18 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (Rs 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 11 crore), and Sandeep Sharma (Rs 4 crore) have been kept by spending the highest Rs 79 crores from its kitty.

This leaves the Rajasthan side with an auction purse of Rs 41 crores and no RTM.

LSG releases Rahul

Taking a cue from their owner, who values “players who have a mindset to win” and those who “put the team before their personal goals and aspirations”, the Lucknow Super Giants think-tank has decided to release their captain for three seasons, KL Rahul.

Though Rahul was team’s top run scorer, it was his strike rate (136.12 in the 2024 IPL) that came in for huge criticism. Rahul’s 520 runs last season at a strike rate of 136 was no match for West indian Nicholas Pooran’s 499 runs at a strike rate of 178.

Meanwhile, LSG has retained Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 crore), Mohsin Khan (Rs 4 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Pooran (Rs 21 crore), and Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore) using Rs 51 crores from their budget.

The team will go into the auctions with the remaining Rs 69 crores and one RTM card.

Gujarat has no place for Shami

Gujarat Titans have released India’s most experienced speedster, Mohammed Shami, ahead of the IPL 2025 auction.

But the team is keeping Afghanistan’s all-rounder Rashid Khan (Rs 18 crore), skipper Shubman Gill (Rs 16.5 crore), Sai Sudharsan (Rs 8.50 crore), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 4 crore), and Shahrukh Khan (Rs 4 crore).

It is important to mention to her that the 33-year-old Shami missed the entire IPL 2024, and retaining him for around Rs 14 crore makes no sense for the management. In fact, Shami has not played any competitive cricket since the ODI World Cup 2023 final. Shami’s surgery left him unable to recover in time for the home series against New Zealand.

Rashid Khan, the T20 league’s top bowler, received the highest billing at Rs 18 crore, while Shubman Gill, India’s white-ball vice-captain, had the second-highest retention rate for the team.

GT currently has a purse of Rs 69 crore, with a single RTM card.

Writter : Chander Shekhar Luthra

shekhar.luthra@gmail.com

@shekharluthra