The preparations for the IPL 2025 season are well underway as franchises announce their player retentions ahead of the much-anticipated Mega Auction. This year, several notable surprises have emerged, including significant player movements that could reshape team dynamics in the league.

Each franchise has strategically decided which players will continue donning their jerseys next season. Here is the list of players retained by each team ahead of IPL Mega Auction:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni.

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel.

Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh.

Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni.

Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma.

Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Several high-profile players will be entering the auction after being released. Notable names include Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer. Here’s the list of players released by each franchise:

All ten franchises have implemented their IPL 2025 retention strategies to maintain a competitive balance within their squads. Each team had the option to retain a maximum of five capped players, two uncapped players, and up to six players in total. Teams that chose to retain fewer players are set to benefit from additional Right-to-Match (RTM) options and a more substantial purse in the forthcoming mega auction.

The IPL 2025 retention strategies employed by each franchise reveal their intentions to maintain competitive balance and enhance team strength. Here are some notable highlights:

Punjab Kings opted for a unique strategy by retaining only two uncapped players—Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh—while forgoing any capped player retentions. This decision provides them with four RTM options for capped players at the auction.

In contrast, Mumbai Indians adopted a traditional approach, retaining five capped players: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Tilak Varma, without retaining any uncapped players.

Kolkata Knight Riders, the defending champions, made headlines by releasing their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer while retaining six players, including key contributors like Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy.

As with every retention year, this season brings its fair share of surprises, with none more striking than the players retained by Kolkata Knight Riders. Just as startling are the players let go off by the defending champions: captain Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, and Venkatesh Iyer, the last named being a preference over Shubman Gill last time around. There were some startling calls elsewhere too.

The exit of Rishabh Pant from Delhi Capitals is a big takeaway of the day. Efforts were made till the very last minute but as has been reported by Cricbuzz, the wicketkeeper batter has held firm in the talks with the franchise owners - GMR and JSW. The negotiations reached a point of no return. However, there remains a possibility that Pant could still find his way back to Delhi, as the Capitals retain the Right To Match (RTM) options that can be exercised on him.

Given the fact that the auction dynamics are notoriously unpredictable, it surely is not certain. Much will depend on the order in which the names come for bidding. If Shreyas Iyer's name comes up before Pant's, the chances are remote. Delhi Capitals are believed to be eager to bring in the Mumbai batter and if they splurge heavily on him - they may be left with limited funds to buy Pant back.

There has been a lot of talk that Chennai Super Kings, one of the preferred teams of most players, will go hard for Pant. It could happen eventually but chances are very little. Having spent INR 65 crore on five retentions, the Super Kings are left with only INR 55 crore. It is unlikely they can afford Pant as there would be teams with much higher purse - like Punjab Kings, (INR 110.5 crore), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (INR 83 crore) and Lucknow Supergiants (Rs 69 crore) - who are expected to hotly pursue the wicketkeeper batter, who is also a captaincy material.

It remains unclear where exactly the negotiations between Pant and Delhi Capitals' management fell through. Pant traveled to Dubai to meet with a team owner, even celebrated his birthday there. During discussions, he is believed to have suggested Yuvraj Singh as a mentor, a proposal that was not exactly rejected, but kept in cold storage for the time being.

However, at some point, the situation escalated beyond control, particularly after Pant's social media post. Within the DC camp, there's a belief that Pant may have received approaches from other teams, likely with the promise of a hefty paycheck. But it is safe to infer Pant's bid will be DC's to lose. They continue to harbour interest in him.

Coming back to the Knight Riders, the standout point is a surprise surplus of INR 12 crore. Their six retentions would cost INR 69 crore to the auction purse, but the actual payout is only INR 57 crore - Rs 13 crore for Rinku Singh, Rs 12 crore each for Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell besides INR 4 crore each for uncapped Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh. While they cannot spend the surplus at the auction - where they will have only Rs 51 crore -- but it can be used for other purposes.

The absence of Shreyas, of course, is the headline point. Contrary to the speculated narrative, Cricbuzz understands that the management and the player had multiple rounds of talks where Shreyas is understood to have asked for a hefty retention fee, failing which he would like to go to the auction. Franchise CEO Venky Mysore hinted at the conversation in a statement on Thursday.

"I've not only had conversations with the six we have retained, but I have also engaged in conversations with the ones we couldn't retain. Obviously I am aware of some of the narratives that have been going around. It's sufficient to say that, we always engage in talks with everyone and most people understand our position. In almost all cases, everyone asks if there is a way we can retain them, but they also understand why sometimes we can't. So hopefully, somewhere our paths will cross again."

He went on to emphasise the point, "But also something to be kept in mind is that retention is not a one way street. It is always something that has to be mutually agreed upon." KKR actually wanted to make Shreyas the face of the franchise but it was not to be. "In an ideal world, we would have wanted the whole team back. But the reality is that you can't, and making those decisions within the parameters provided is definitely challenging," Mysore stated.

Interestingly enough it was KKR and their owner Shah Rukh Khan who requested the BCCI to allow only RTMs, no retentions. Having retained six players, they go to the auction without a single RTM. They won't say as much but they definitely were not the fans of the new RTM clause that allows a team to inflate a bid by any amount once the bidding has stopped. Cricbuzz understands that they had even written a letter to the BCCI on this.

Another notable highlight of the retentions saga is Mumbai Indians' call to retain Tilak Varma over Ishan Kishan, the Indian keeper-batter who was even part of the World Cup squad. A quick look at the numbers may clarify the choice. While the franchise acquired Ishan for a hefty INR 15.25 crore after a determined and vigorous pursuit at the auction in 2022, Tilak was secured for INR 1.7 crore in the same year. Despite a value difference of over INR 13.5 crore, their performances were not far apart in the last three seasons: Ishan scored 1,192 runs in three seasons (44 innings), while Tilak has achieved a similar level, managing 1,156 runs in just six fewer innings (38). Clearly, Tilak emerges as the stronger performer in a head-to-head comparison, especially given that Ishan opens while Tilak mostly bats at No. 5.

Mumbai Indians also surprised the IPL watchers by choosing not to opt for a sixth retention, despite considering players like Nehal Wadehra, Anshul Kamboj, Naman Dhir, and even Piyush Chawla. This decision is reportedly driven by their desire and need to maintain flexibility for the upcoming auction. MI also announced that Hardik Pandya will remain their captain for the season, setting to rest a lot of speculation on the subject.

Apart from Shreyas, Ishan and Pant, other big names released were Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, David Warner, Mohammed Shami, David Miller, Phil Salt, Mitchell Starc, Venkatesh Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneswhar Kumar, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, R Aswhin, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow among others. As the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) intended, the auction will not be short of star power with INR 641.5 crore available for splurge.

Total money spent on retentions: INR 558.5 Crore

Purse left for mega auction:INR 641.5 Crore