Royals retain Sanju, Pandya to captain MI in IPL 2025

All 10 Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have unveiled their retained players list before the 2025 auction. Rajasthan Royals held on to their captain, Sanju Samson, with a retention price of Rs 18 crore, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore. However, Kohli’s record as the highest-paid retained player in IPL history was surpassed by Heinrich Klaasen, who SunRisers Hyderabad retained for an impressive Rs 23 crore.

Mumbai Indians have secured Jasprit Bumrah for Rs 18 crore, with Hardik Pandya set to captain the team in the upcoming season. Meanwhile, three prominent captains—Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer—are headed for the IPL auction.

Chennai Super Kings retentions:
Ruturaj Gaikwad – Rs 18 cr
Matheesha Pathirana – Rs 13 cr
Shivam Dube - Rs 12 cr
Ravindra Jadeja – Rs 18 cr
MS Dhoni - Rs 4 cr

Mumbai Indians retentions:
Tilak Varma: Rs 8 cr
Rohit Sharma: Rs 16.30 cr
Bumrah: Rs 18 cr
Suryakumar Yadav: Rs 16.35 cr

Lucknow Super Giants retentions: 
Nicholas Pooran - Rs 21 cr
Ravi Bishnoi - Rs 11 cr
Mayank Yadav - Rs 11 cr
Mohsin Khan - Rs 4 cr
Ayush Badoni – Rs 4 cr

Punjab Kings retentions:
Shashank Singh – Rs 5.5 cr
Prabhsimran Singh - Rs 4 cr

Rajasthan Royals retentions:
Sanju Samson – Rs 18 cr
Yashasvi Jaiswal - Rs 18 cr
Riyan Parag – Rs 14 cr
Dhruv Jurel - Rs 14 cr
Shimron Hetmyer -Rs 11 cr
Sandeep Sharma - Rs 4 cr

Royal Challengers Bengaluru retentions:
Virat Kohli - Rs 21 cr
Rajat Patidar – Rs 11 cr
Yash Dayal - Rs 5 cr

Sunrisers Hyderabad retentions:
Heinrich Klaasen – Rs 23 cr
Pat Cummins – Rs 18 cr
Abhishek Sharma - Rs 14 cr
Travis Head – Rs 14 cr
Nitish Kumar Reddy - Rs 6 cr

Delhi Capitals retentions:
Axar Patel - Rs 16.50 cr
Kuldeep Yadav - Rs 13.25 cr
Tristan Stubbs – Rs 10 cr
Abishek Porel - Rs 4 cr

Gujarat Titans retentions:
Rashid Khan - Rs 18 cr
Shubman Gill - Rs 16.50 cr
Sai Sudharsan – Rs 8.50 cr
Rahul Tewatia - Rs 4 cr
Shahrukh Khan – Rs 4 cr

Kolkata Knight Riders retentions:
Rinku Singh - Rs 13 cr
Varun Chakravarthy - Rs 12 cr
Sunil Narine – Rs 12 cr
Andre Russell - Rs 12 cr
Harshit Rana - Rs 4 cr
Ramandeep Singh – Rs 4 cr

Big releases
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Tim David
Punjab Kings: Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, Cameron Green
Rajasthan Royals: Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, R Ashwin
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, David Warner, Anrich Nortje
Gujarat Titans: Mohammed Shami, David Miller
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock, Krunal Pandya

After months of speculation, the 10 IPL franchises submitted their lists of retained players on Thursday before the upcoming mega auction for the 2025 season.

Franchisees were permitted to keep six players from their 2024 squad, with a maximum of five being capped Indian or foreign international players and two being uncapped Indians. The six retained players will help teams keep their core intact.

The retention game
Each team can spend Rs 120 crore to find players for their squad for the upcoming season. For the first capped player retained, a team will have to spend Rs 18 crore: Rs 14 crore for the second player, Rs 11 crore for the third, Rs 18 crore for the fourth, and Rs 14 crore again for the fifth player. For every uncapped Indian player retained, a team will lose Rs 4 crore from the purse. This means that if a team retains five capped international players, it will have to spend Rs 75 crore. However, if a franchisee wishes, it can split the Rs 75 among the five retained players.

But if a team retains fewer than the six players allowed by the IPL, it can join the mega auction and bid to get back their capped internationals (what is known as the right-to-match or RTM clause). A franchise that retains no players will enter the mega auction with six RTM options. A team that retains six players will have no RTM options at the auction, ESPN Cricinfo clarified.