File photo of Rohit Sharma© BCCI/Sportzpics
The countdown has begun for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises to start working on their release and retention list. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the retention rules on Saturday, paving the way for the franchises to finalise the list of players they wish to keep ahead of the mega auction. The board has allowed franchises to retain a maximum of 6 players, either through direct retention or Right-To-Match card. However, with retention cost increased by the BCCI, striking the perfect balance between keep players and buying them through RTM in the auction, will be key to success.
Though it is extremely unlikely to see all 10 franchises retaining 6 players before the auction, we take a look at the top 6 candidates who could be retained.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell, Matheesha Pathirana, MS Dhoni
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Anshul Kamboj*.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Yash Dayal*.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana*.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, David Miller, Sai Sudharsan, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Tewatia*.
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Yadav*.
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Marsh, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel*.
Punjab Kings: Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh*, Ashutosh Sharma*.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, T. Natarajan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*
* The status of these uncapped players can change before October 31. According to the BCCI's regulations, a player representing the national team before the deadline would not be considered uncapped. But, if a player makes international debut on November 01, he would still go into the IPL 2025 season as an uncapped player.