Players are now evaluating other options and not entirely committing to franchises.
Ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) retention deadline on October 31, all teams are busy deciding their final list of retained and released players.
However, it has been understood that most franchises are left confused and are unable to shortlist the final names due to the decision taken by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
The IPL 2024 runners-up have decided to retain Proteas big-hitter Heinrich Klaasen for a staggering amount of INR 23 crores, making him the priority pick. Notably, the highest slab for retention is INR 18 crore, followed by INR 14 crore and INR 11 crore- meaning the extra amount will be deducted from SRH’s total cap in the IPL 2025 auction. Their next pick is Pat Cummins at the 18cr bracket and Abhishek Sharma for INR 14 crores.
This inflated retention amount has now given rise to further uncertainty with a lot of players expecting more value and not entirely committing to franchises while evaluating other options.
ALSO READ: KL Rahul drops bombshell, rejects LSG retention offer: Reports
Echoing on the same lines, a franchise executive privy to the developments told The Indian Express,
“Once it became clear that Klaasen was being retained for Rs 23 crore, a lot of equations changed on the negotiation table. There is no compulsion to follow the pay slab, so there has been a lot of back and forth. And Indian players are even checking their market value before committing to retention. There is plenty of demand and players know it. They are checking with other franchises if they will show interest. Even if two franchises show interest, they could end up getting a higher bid than what their current team is offering.”
When it comes to the top Indian stars like Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul, it thus makes sense if they would prefer entering the auction as they bring brand value and almost certainly will get higher bids than what they are being offered.
Pant is reportedly not the first choice for captain in Delhi Capitals while Rahul and the Lucknow management has seemingly been at loggerheads ever since the public fallout with franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka last season.
For more updates, follow Cricxtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.
