IPL 2025 Mega Auction will take place later this year, and before the mega event, the teams will have to announce their respective lists of retained players. The deadline to announce the player retention is October 31. Hence, teams have just one month to announce the retentions.
The maximum number of players a team can hold back from its old squad is six. They can either use direct retention or RTM card to buy these players back. Notably, teams have to retain at least one uncapped player if they retain six players, and it will cost them total INR 79 crore.
While it will mean that a majority of the funds are exhausted right before the auction, here’s a list of the two teams who can afford to retain six players before IPL 2025 Mega Auction.
1. Mumbai Indians may retain 6 players before IPL 2025 Mega Auction
Former five-time champions Mumbai Indians finished 10th in the IPL 2024 points table. Despite having a star-studded squad, the Mumbai-based franchise could not play well as a unit and eventually settled for the wooden spoon.
Although MI lost a majority of the matches they played in IPL 2024, they would like to six players from their squad. Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan can be the five capped retentions for MI, while Nehal Wadhera can be the uncapped retention.
2. Sunrisers Hyderabad
IPL 2024 runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad were against the idea of a mega auction because they finally assembled a strong squad after a long time. SRH team owner Kaviya Maran wanted eight retentions, but BCCI has allowed a maximum of six retentions.
It is evident that the Orange Army is interested in retaining the maximum number of players they can. Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhishek Sharma can be the six retentions for the Sunrisers in IPL 2025.
