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Teams set to announce retentions today in lead-up to IPL mega auction; Dhoni to be CSK’s ‘uncapped’ player
MUMBAI: Will India’s cricket stars Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, who have captained the Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders in the past few years, be available at next month’s IPL auction, along with KL Rahul, who led the Lucknow Super Giants till last season? The suspense will lift at 5.30pm when all 10 franchises announce their retentions today.
Struggling to cope up with India’s maiden Test series defeat to New Zealand, the retentions will also serve as a distraction for India’s passionate fans. While Rahul is a certainty in the auction as of now, there are indications that Pant and Iyer too could go into the auction pool, but things could well swing at the last minute.
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“Except the big guns – the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings, expect a lot of other franchises to save their money for the likes of Pant, Iyer (who led KKR to the IPL title last season) and Rahul, who could all be available in the IPL auction. Rahul, who captained LSG for three seasons, taking them to the playoffs twice, could be a hot buy, especially as he offers captaincy skills.
“There are four franchises who have expressed their interest in him – Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. Expect all four to go hard for him in the auction,” a source told TOI.
TOI looks at what the 10 franchises are likely to do in terms of retentions on Thursday:
Chennai Super Kings
According to a reliable source, they are set to retain skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 18 crore), Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 14 crore), Mumbai big hitter Shivam Dube (Rs 11 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 18 crore) and the legendary MS Dhoni (Rs 4 crore), who will be treated as an uncapped player as he last played for India in the 2019 ODI World Cup. “They are extremely keen to retain Pathirana, who is likely to play for them in the other T20 leagues too. They will try their best to retain Mumbai seamer Tushar Deshpande, who has done well for them in the past three years, through the RTM (right to match) card,” a source told TOI.
“They might also try the RTM card to get one among New Zealand duo Devon Conway and allrounder Rachin Ravindra. Conway has an edge because he can keep wickets too,” revealed the source.
Mumbai Indians
According to sources, the Mumbai Indians have managed to retain all their India superstars in the lineup – allrounder Hardik Pandya, who captained them in the last season, India skipper Rohit Sharma, India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah and batsman Tilak Varma, which means that they are likely to spend around Rs 75 crore just on retaining their top players.
The final word on who will be the MI captain for IPL-2025 is still not decided.
Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to be the first player they will retain, at Rs 18 crore. Skipper Sanju Samson, who recently scored his maiden T20I century against Bangladesh (Rs 14 crore), allrounder Riyan Parag (Rs 11 crore) should be their other retentions. They are keen to retain India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who has done well for them previously in the IPL, and in county cricket recently, but it’s reliably learnt that they haven’t locked him in yet.
Lucknow Super Giants
Even as they parted ways with their previous captain KL Rahul, the Lucknow Super Giants are set to announce West Indies’ explosive batter – wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran as their primary retention at a salary of over Rs 18 crore, the price slab decided by the BCCI, for the No. 1 retention. As per a source, the only other player they are likely to retain is express pacer Mayank Yadav, who made his debut against Bangladesh at home in the T20Is.
Gujarat Titans
Their likely retentions could be skipper Shubman Gill, Afghanistan’s ace leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, and Rahul Tewatia (uncapped). They could let go of India’s ace pacer Mohammed Shami, who is currently out due to injury.
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Royal Challengers Bengaluru
There is a buzz that they could reinstate Virat Kohli as their captain. Other than him, the only other player they may choose to retain is middle-order batter Rajat Patidar, who smashed 159 off just 102 balls for Madhya Pradesh against Haryana in the Ranji Trophy recently and did well for them in the last IPL.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Their first retained player is set to be South Africa power-hitter Heinrich Klaasen, who is set to get as much as Rs 23 crore. The franchise’s other retention deals are Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins, who was Sunrisers captain in 2024, at Rs 18 crore, India’s T20 opener Abhishek Sharma at Rs 14 crore, and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Delhi Capitals
While Pant’s future at the franchise is uncertain, they are set to retain Axar Patel (Rs 18 crore), chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 14 crore) and wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel (uncapped, Rs 4 crore). They could retain both their foreign big hitters, South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs, and Australia’s opener Jake Fraser-McGurk.
Punjab Kings
They will try their best to retain India’s left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, even if it means using the RTM card in the auction. “Arshdeep is someone in whom they have invested a fair bit in, and now he’s a top pacer in white-ball cricket. However, they may find it difficult to retain him at a steep price. They are keen to retain two out of the four impressive, uncapped players they have in their line-up, left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma and ‘keeper-bat Prabhsimran Singh,” a source told this paper.
Kolkata Knight Riders
They could let go of not just Iyer, who led them to the IPL title in 2024, but also Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Their first retained player is set to be mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been taking plenty of wickets for them in the last few seasons.
‘Finisher’ Rinku Singh, talented pace bowling allrounder Harshit Rana (uncapped), who has been picked for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy next month, and aggressive English opener Phil Salt could be their other retentions.
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