With the IPL 2025 season approaching, the franchises had earlier completed the player retention, which provided the backbone of their teams in readiness for a competitive auction. This retention period helped the teams to secure some of the important players and hence keep the balance of their squads intact. The IPL 2025 auction will be crucial as most teams will be looking to fill vacant slots and complete their teams for the season.
The IPL 2025 retention period compelled teams to retain core players and revise leadership focus. The fact that KL Rahul will be participating in the auction table suggests that the LSG is seeking a new captain. This places LSG in a position to look for potential possibilities in the ranks of captains, including Shreyas Iyer, who would benefit the team’s competitiveness.
At the same time, the Delhi Capitals (DC) let go of Rishabh Pant, turning him into an auction bait. In light of this, DC also secured the services of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav to provide all-round capabilities and spin options in the absence of DC’s star player.
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While focusing on the future, Rajasthan Royals (RR) effectively combine youth with experience, locking in Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Riyan Parag. Notably, the team also contemplated exercising its Right to Match (RTM) card on Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been a great asset to the team owing to his spin bowling. KKR also let go of Shreyas Iyer. They will be trying to buy their captain from the mega auction.
Full List of retained players
| Teams | Retained Players |
| Chennai Super Kings (CSK) | Ruturaj Gaikwad (18 cr), Shivam Dube (13 cr) Matheesha Pathirana (12 cr)m Ravindra Jadeja (18 cr) MS Dhoni (4 cr) |
| Delhi Capitals (DC) | Axar Patel (16.5 cr), Kuldeep Yadav (13.25 cr) Tristan Stubbs (10 cr), Abhishek Porel (4 cr) |
| Gujarat Titans (GT) | Rashid Khan (18 cr), Shubham Gill (16.5 cr), Sai Sudharsan (8.5 cr) Rahul Tewatia (4 cr), Shah Rukh Khan (4 cr) |
| Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) | Rinku Singh (13 cr), Sunil Narine (12 cr), Andre Russell (12 cr) Varun Chakraborty (12 cr), Harshit Rana (4 cr) Ramandeep Singh (4 cr) |
| Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) | Nicholas Pooran (21 cr), Ravi Bishnoi (11 cr), Mayank Yadav (11 cr) Ayush Badoni (4 cr), Mohsin Khan (4 cr) |
| Mumbai Indians (MI) | Jasprit Bumrah (18 cr), Surya Kumar Yadav (16.35 cr) Hardik Pandya (16.35 cr), Rohit Sharma (16.30 cr) Tilak Varma (4 cr) |
| Punjab Kings (PBKS) | Shashank Singh (5.5 cr), Prabhsimran Singh (4 cr) |
| Rajasthan Royals (RR) | Sanju Samson (18 cr), Yashasvi Jaiswal (18 cr) Riyan Parag (14 cr), Dhruv Jurel (14 cr) Shimron Hetmyer (11 cr), Sandeep Sharma (4 cr) |
| Royal challengers Bengaluru (RCB) | Virat Kohli (21 cr), Rajat Patidar (11 cr) Yash Dayal (5 cr) |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) | Henrich Klaasen (23 cr), Pat Cummins (18 cr) Abhishek Sharma (14 cr), Travis Head (14 cr) Nitish Kumar Reddy (6 cr) |
New Retention Rules and Salary Cap
In another turn of events, the BCCI introduced new retention policies that permitted the franchises to retain six players through either direct retention or RTM cards, thus balancing the capped and uncapped players. BCCI’s vision is to ensure that players are fully active and competitive in the league by raising the player salary cap to INR 146 crore and making the match fee to INR 7.5 lakh per match.
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These activities signify an important step as franchises lay the groundwork for an intense bidding war and gear up for (Indian Premier League ) IPL 2025, which is expected to be a money-spinning one.
