IPL 2025 Retentions: Pant, Shreyas, Rahul released!

Rajasthan Royals have retained a maximum of six players, including five capped players and one uncapped player.

Captain Sanju Samson and India's star batter Yashasvi Jaiswal were retained for Rs 18 crore each, while Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel got Rs 14 crore each.

West Indian Shimron Hetmyer was retained for Rs 11 crore, while Sandeep Sharma was retained as the uncapped player for Rs 4 crore.

Interestingly, they released two of their long-serving players Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Having spent a maximum of Rs 79 crore, they have just Rs 45 crore to spend at the auction.

As expected, Sunrisers Hyderabad have retained their five star players.

South African big-hitter Heinrich Klaasen is the most expensive retention for IPL 2025 at Rs 23 crore, while captain Pat Cummins stays back for Rs 18 crore. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head were retained for Rs 14 crore each, while all-rounder Nitish Reddy stays back for Rs 6 crore.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have made just three retentions.

No surprise that Virat Kohli is their top retention at Rs 21 crore, while Rajat Patidar stays back for Rs 11 crore, while Yash Dayal got Rs 5 crore deal.

Interestingly, they have not retained any overseas player, while also letting go of Mohammed Siraj, whom they could try getting back through RTM at the auction.

The Right to Match (RTM) ruling carries a rider at this year's IPL mega auction.

At the past auction, when the original team of a player played the RTM it was at the end of the bidding process and the team could just retain their player at that bidding price.

Now, the bidding team is allowed one more bid and that bid could go higher and higher.

For example, if the bidding closes at Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) for Rohit Sharma, and the home team (in this case Mumbai Indians) plays the RTM for him, the bidding team could put a final bid of even Rs say 10 crore (Rs 100 million), if they thought the player was worth it and MI would have to match that closing bid to retain Rohit's services.

This could practically nullify the advantage of holding an RTM card. And, while it will change the dynamics of the auctions, it can also put a spoke in the wheels for the franchise that wish to retain their player.

The IPL 2025 retention list will be released on Thursday and will be the starting point of the hype, spice and buzz that the cash-rich T20 league brings every year.

With a lot of big names set to be retained and several youngsters to backed, there could be some names that could bid adieu to their respective franchises.

Rishabh Pant, K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer -- the three young stars of Indian cricket and captains of their IPL teams -- could be headed to the auction after failing to agree deals with their franchises.

Shreyas Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title, could be the biggest name to be released after he failed to agree on a new deal with his team. KKR could also let go of star all-rounder Andre Russell and Mitchell Starc -- the highest paid player in the history of IPL.

Rishabh Pant could also be headed to the auction after disagreements with the team owners, while Rahul is unlikely to continue at Lucknow Super Giants after the team's below-par showing last season.

These three players could attract strong bidding wars if they do make it to the auction.

The 10 IPL franchises have to submit their retention to the BCCI by the deadline of 5pm IST on Thursday, October 31, 2024.