As the IPL 2025 mega-auction is up ahead, all franchises have sealed their player retention plans. The latest rules state retention of as many as six players by each franchise before the auction, consisting of five capped players and two uncapped players, with no limit on overseas player retention.
Franchises need to handle their purses for the auctions quite prudently. If they retain five players, the auction purse will dip by Rs 75 crore. An additional uncapped player will take away another Rs 4 crore of purse. Total budget is only Rs 120 crore for every team. Every decision will have very significant weights on the auction strategy.

Here’s a look at the players each franchise could retain for IPL 2025:

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Possible Retentions: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Rachin Ravindra, Matheesha Pathirana, MS Dhoni

Key Players: MS Dhoni, who has been the face of CSK, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, a rising star, are likely to be retained. Ravindra Jadeja and Pathirana have also become core members of the team.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Probable Retentions: Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Anshul Kamboj (uncapped)

Star Players: Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are MI’s major retention. Hardik Pandya has also played an instrumental role in MI’s title wins. The young contingent, like Ishan Kishan, can be expected to be retained in the main outfit.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

Probable Retentions: Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Yash Dayal (uncapped)

Star Players: Virat Kohli, the face for RCB, and Mohammed Siraj, the pace weapon, would be retained. All-round balance is expected from Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green.

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Prised for: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Sandeep Sharma (uncapped)

KKR appear to be retaining everyone in their ranks. Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, and Shreyas Iyer will surely be retained. Rinku Singh, who could turn out to be a mid- or lower-order finisher, is likely to get his due too.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Retention: Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana (uncapped)

Key Retention: Shreyas Iyer will most likely be retained as the skipper for KKR. Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine are probable to be retained considering their consistency in performance. The addition of Mitchell Starc to the bowl strength can cause much damage.

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Retention Probabilities: Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, David Miller, Sai Sudharsan, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Tewatia (uncapped)

The spine of the Gujarat Titans will revolve around Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, and David Miller. Mohammed Shami is going to lead their pacing, and Rahul Tewatia has already proved his all-round ability.

Lucknow SuperGiants (LSG)

Probable Retentions: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Yadav (unplaying)

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Confirmed Retentions: Rishabh Pant, Mitchell Marsh, Harry Brook, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (uncapped)

Key Players: All the key players have been retained. For them to hold their team, they will have to retain only a handful of the uncapped players and bring in some new faces.

Key Players: Rishabh Pant would be retained as the skipper of the Delhi Capitals. There are only two key foreign players: Mitchell Marsh and Harry Brook. Axar Patel has been a consistent player for the team.

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Probable Retentions: Matthew Short, Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Ashutosh Sharma (uncapped)

Main Strengths: Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh are going to be the mainstays of PBKS’s bowling unit. Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone provide depth in both batting and bowling.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Probable Retentions: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, T. Natarajan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (uncapped)

Pace Attack: SRH will be led by Pat Cummins. Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen are going to have important roles in batting as well as wicket keeping for the side.

With the IPL 2025 mega-auction nearing, the teams will finalize their retentions and try to look ahead to the performances, combining the current criteria with long-term prospectus.