IPL 2025 Retention: Biggest Winners, Losers & Key Highlights

IPL 2025 Retention: All 10 teams on Thursday (Oct 31) released their list of retained players from 2024 squad ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions which will take place in last week of November. As expected Rohit, MS and Jasprit were retained by their respective teams but Rishabh, Shreyas and KL were released by Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants respectively.

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While KL’s exit from LSG was expected, Pant and Iyer’s release was a surprise. Pant was with DC since 2016 and was captain of the team in the last edition of the league whereas Iyer was the captain of the KKR team that won the IPL in 2024. Despite that he was released by the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise.

Here’s a look at the top winners and losers from player retention ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions:

Winners: Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad

MI retained Rohit, Surya, Hardik, Bumrah and Tilak ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions. Bumrah signed an extension for 18 crore whereas Surya, Hardik and Rohit were retained for 16.35 crore, 16.35 crore and 16.30 crore respectively. MI held on to their Indian core.

CSK retained Ruturaj (18 crore), Jadeja (18 crore), Matheesha (13 crore), Shivam (12 crore) and Dhoni (4 crore). There was a big question mark over Dhoni’s playing future but he has been retained as an uncapped player so he will play at least one more season. CSK will go into the IPL 2025 mega auctions with one RTM which they can use for Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway or Deepak Chahar.

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IPL 2024 runners up SRH have retained five players – Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Nitish Reddy and Abhishek Sharma. All the retained players played a big role in the team’s performance in IPL 2024 and the team management and owners will expect the same from them again next year.

Losers: Rajasthan Royals, Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals

RR have retained six players but let go of Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. One can understand the logic of releasing Ashwin due to age but not retaining Buttler, Boult and Chahal and instead opting for Shimron Hetmyer and Dhurv Jurel is a big surprise. This is not to question the potential of Jurel and Hetmyer but it’s not comparable to the pedigree of Buttler, Boult and Chahal. Also to retain six players RR spent 79 crore and will go into the auction with just 41 crore.

LSG have retained Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore) and two uncapped Indian players – Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan – for Rs 4 crore each. Retaining Pooran for Rs 21 crore is a surprise as he has been inconsistent and the price tag will put more pressure on him to perform. LSG have taken a big risk by retaining Mayank for Rs 11 crore as the 22-year-old has major fitness issues and will he be able to play a full season for them is yet to be seen.

DC retained 4 players and released Rishabh Pant and Jake Fraser-McGurk who will trigger a massive bidding war at the IPL 2025 mega auctions – don’t be surprised if they break the record for most expensive players in IPL history.

Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Tristan Stubbs along with Abhishek Porel makes sense but can’t release both Pant and Fraser-McGurk.

Too early to predict: Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans

KKR released Iyer who was the captain of the 2024 team and Gujarat Titans didn’t retain Shami and David Miller. The decisions seem bizarre given what they have done for their respective teams in the past.

What About Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru?

PBKS and RCB have retained 2 and 3 players respectively from the 2024 team. PBKS will go into the mega auction with a purse of Rs 110.50 crore and RCB with Rs 83 crore. They will have plenty of RTM options to use so a few familiar faces could be back next season. Releasing most of their teams does mean they are ready to start afresh.

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