Among these five players, three serve as captains of their franchises
As the IPL 2025 auction draws near and the deadline for retentions approaches, people may see some of their favorite players who might not be retained by their franchises. Each team can retain six players, including five capped players and one uncapped player.
Reports suggest that some teams have already decided not to retain certain players who seemed likely to stay. This could be due to budget, or because franchises have different plans and want to keep other players instead of because there’s a lure for the player from other teams.
Now let’s take a look at 5 big names that could be released ahead of IPL retentions.
Reports say that LSG might let go of KL Rahul. Rahul, who has been the team’s captain for three seasons, could be released before the auction because of worries about his strike rate. The decision is said to be made by mentor Zaheer Khan and head coach Justin Langer.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Rahul recently met with LSG’s owners but didn’t promise to stay with the team if offered a new deal. He is expected to join the 2025 IPL mega auction.
According to the reports, DC wants to keep Rishabh Pant, but he might not be their first pick for captain. Pant has had several talks with the team’s owners and is eager to lead the team. However, the management isn’t too excited about giving him the captaincy. This could lead Pant to enter the 2025 IPL auction, as many big teams are interested in making him their captain.
Earlier this month, Pant also posted on X (formerly Twitter) with a cheeky tweet that, “If I go to the auction, will I be sold or not, and for how much??”
The situation with Shreyas Iyer is a bit tricky. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) want to keep him since he’s been an important captain for them. However, they are still deciding if he should be one of the five top players they can keep.
The team already has other big names like Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer. Since KKR can only keep five capped players, they have to carefully choose who stays.
According to the reports, Mumbai Indians are eyeing Rashid Khan who currently plays for their other franchises, MI Emirates, MI Cape Town, and MI New York. They are reportedly planning a significant move to sign him ahead of the mega auction.
The franchise has already contacted the player and discussed potential transfer terms, but nothing is finalized yet. Additionally, a recent post from Gujarat Titans featuring captain Shubman Gill with Rashid Khan together can be a signal that both of them might get retained. It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds.
According to the Hindustan Times, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) probably won’t keep Glenn Maxwell, the Australian all-rounder. He had a tough 2024 season, only scoring 52 runs in 10 matches and taking just six wickets.
Maxwell even took a break during the season for mental health reasons. Although he came back for some important games, he didn’t perform better. Because of this, it looks like RCB will let him go, but they will definitely keep star players like Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj.
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