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India’s understated keeper-batter Rishabh Pant's nine-year association with Delhi Capitals officially ended on Thursday while South African Heinrich Klaasen with Rs 23 crore valuation defeated none other than peerless Virat Kohli (Rs 21 crore) to appear as the top-most retention for the upcoming IPL season 2025.

KKR's IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer is also back in the auction pool after his discussions with the management failed.

Mumbai Indians retained all their five-star players, including skipper Hardik Pandya, national captains Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav, pace ace Jasprit Bumrah and young NT Tilak Varma. 

They exhausted a full retention purse of Rs 75 crore.

Punjab Kings have spent just Rs 9.5 crore, the least amount for retention, on two uncapped players Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. 

They would go into the auction with the highest purse of Rs 110.5 crore and four RTM (Right to Match) cards.

Pant and DC:
DC's ownership structure is complicated as the co-owners GMR and JSW had powers to control management for two years at a time. Therefore, Pant, who is a JSW recruit, wasn't the top choice for GMR management headed by co-owner Kiran Grandhi.

The moment GMR took charge, they removed earlier coaching management including former Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly and brought in Venugopal Rao.

If sources are to be believed, Pant wasn't exactly very pleased with the appointment of Rao and Hemang Badani, who possibly would have been given powers to overrule the skipper.

Discussions held over the last month didn't yield any result and Pant didn't want to work with unfamiliar coaching staff thrust on him by the new management.

Retentions: Axar Patel (Rs 16.5 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (Rs 10 crore), Abhisek Porel (Rs 4 crore) -- Rs 43.75 crore. 
Purse for Auction: Rs 76.25 crore. RTM: 2.

Star-Studded MI:
Mumbai Indians didn't have much of a choice. They have paid Jasprit Bumrah the top retention price of Rs 18 crore while India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore) and franchise skipper Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore) were paid an equal retention price.

Retentions: Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 18 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore), Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (Rs 16.30 crore), NT Tilak Varma (Rs 8 crore). Retention Price: Rs 75 crore.

The purse for auction: Rs 45 crore. RTM: 1.

RCB and Virat Kohli:
Virat Kohli and RCB are inseparable, and hence, if there had been one retention, it would have been the iconic Indian batter.
Retention: Virat Kohli (21 cr), Rajat Patidar (Rs11 cr) and Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) Rs 37 crore. 

Auction Purse: Rs 83 crore. RTM: 3.

Punjab Kings:
Not making the playoffs for 10 straight years means that the Punjab Kings never had a settled look. They retained only two uncapped players: keeper-opener Prabhsimran Singh and finisher Shashank Singh. 

Retention: 9.5 crore. Auction Purse: Rs 110.5 crore RTM: 4.

KKR retains its core:
Shreyas Iyer must have thought he was worth way more than his current value of Rs 12.25 crore after leading KKR to the IPL title.

However not being an automatic India T20 choice and a poor strike rate of less than 140 meant that KKR was never going to shell out big bucks for him. 

The franchise has released him, and he is DC's No.1 captaincy target. The franchise is believed to have kept Rs 20 crore minimum for him.

Retentions: Rinku Singh (13 crore) Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 12 crore) Sunil Narine (12 crore), Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore), Harshit Rana (Rs 4 crore), Ramandeep (4 crore). Retention: Rs 57 crore. Purse: Rs 63 crore. RTM: 0.

SRH and Hein 'Rich' Klaasen:

Heinrich Klaasen at Rs 23 crore is value for money as he probably is one of the best hitters of Indian spinners on slow tracks, a rare USP among foreign batters.

Retention: Pat Cummins (18 crore), Abhishek Sharma (Rs 14 crore) Nitish Reddy (Rs 6 crore), Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore), Travis Head (14 cr) 

Retention: Rs 75 crore Auction Purse: Rs 45 crore. RTM: 1

 
CSK and prudence:
CSK didn't have too many surprises except giving the same retention amount to both skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and veteran Ravi Jadeja. MS Dhoni, for whom uncapped player rule was created, was retained for Rs 4 crore.

Retention: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 18 cr), Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 13 cr), Shivam Dube (Rs 12 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 18 cr), MS Dhoni (Rs 4 crore). Retention: Rs 65 crore. Auction Purse: Rs 55 cr. RTM: 1

Rajasthan Royals:
RR had room for all the talent that it groomed over the years with no place for Jos Buttler, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Retention: Sanju Samson (Rs 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 18 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (Rs 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (Rs 4 crore) Retention: Rs 79 crore (will be adjusted) Purse: Rs 41 crore. RTM: 0.

LSG release Rahul: 
Keeping Nicholas Pooran at a premium price of Rs 21 crore seems to be a good choice.

Retention: Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore) Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (Rs 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 cr). Retention: Rs 51 crore.

Auction Purse: Rs 69 crore for GT.

Rashid is a safe place:
T20 league's premier bowler Rashid Khan was given top billing at Rs 18 crore while India's white-ball vice-captain Shubman Gill was second highest retention for the franchise.

Retention: Rashid Khan (Rs 18 crore), Shubman Gill (Rs 16.5 crore), B Sai Sudharsan (Rs 8.5 cr), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 4 cr), M Shahrukh Khan (Rs 4 cr), Retention: 51 crore Auction Purse: Rs 69 crore. RTM 1.