The past week has been a bit of a revelation for Indian cricket. Of course, the biggest blow was the three-nil loss against New Zealand—India’s first ever in their 92-year long Test history at home.
But something interesting is brewing on the sidelines as well—the 2025 IPL retentions. As all 10 teams picked the players they want to retain, the way it all unfolded tells the story.
For the first time in six years, as many as three prominent IPL captains will be in the auction. Among K L Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer, two of them have led India, and they are expected to light up the auction and even break the highest price any team has paid for an Indian.
For now, it is Bengaluru who has retained Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore while Hyderabad have signed Heinrich Klaasen for Rs 23 crore. The retention cycle, as always, tells a lot about how the teams operate but also how player power dictates more often than not on whether they stay with the team. It is evident in the case of Rahul, Iyer, and Pant.
It also tells how cutthroat this business is that Kolkata have let go off their IPL winning captain for their most valuable all-rounders. Mumbai have managed to secure their core group which will have four India captains and one next-gen superstar.
It came at a bargain as they let go of Ishan Kishan but one can expect them to go hard at him in the auction. Similarly, Hyderabad have kept the core and so has Chennai with M S Dhoni set to play for another season.
But it might have come at a cost considering the spots they have to fill with the purse they have. Some franchises have gone for a total revamp like Punjab.
Amidst all this, the retention trends also indicate who are the next big stars and brands of Indian cricket. From Yashasvi Jaiswal to Rinku Singh to Tilak Varma to Dhruv Jurel to Riyan Parag to Mayank Yadav, every single one of them will see a windfall.
These are players who were uncapped and nowhere near the scheme of things during the last mega auction. They were signed at a lower price but have grown exponentially since their stocks have increased.
The auction that’s set to happen in Saudi Arabia later this month will be very interesting, especially to see how the big stars light up the stage.