New Delhi: The action-packed IPL retention deadline day witnessed several surprise decisions as franchises drew their respective roadmaps by retaining and releasing the players ahead of the mega-auction in November. A total of 45 players, including some big names were released while some surprise names were retained as franchises spent crores of rupees from their 120 cr auction purse.
South African Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore) enjoyed the biggest payday, pipping Virat Kohli (Rs 21 crore) to emerge as the top-most retention for the upcoming IPL season.
Punjab Kings will into the auction with the highest purse of Rs 110.5 crore and also four RTM (Right To Match) cards after spending just Rs 9.5 crore by retaining two players (both uncapped) – Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh.
Among the most notable names to be released was keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, whose nine-year association with Delhi Capitals officially ended on Thursday. KKR’s IPL 2024 winning captain Shreyas Iyer is back in the auction pool along with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf du Plessis and Rajasthan Royals (RR) icon Jos Buttler.
On one hand, several big names such as MS Dhoni, Andre Russell and Pat Cummins took pay cuts to remain associated with their respective franchises, on the other, some low-key players enjoyed a huge payday after receiving pay hikes of astronomical levels.
Dhruv Jurel, the Rajasthan Royals keeper-batter, saw his salary rise by an eye-watering 6900 per cent. His contract of Rs 20 lakh in IPL 2024 was upgraded to Rs 14 crore after he became one of the five players retained by Rajasthan Royals. Besides, Jurel, RR also retained Sanju Samson (Rs 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 18 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 11 crore) and Sandeep Sharma (Rs 4 crore).
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Matheesha Pathirana saw his pak increase by a whopping 6400 per cent from Rs 20 lakh to 13 crore. Other big gainers were Rajat Patidar, Mayank Yadav, Shashank Singh, Sai Sudharsan and Rinku Singh.
Biggest pay hikes
| Players | 2024 salary | 2025 salary | Gain (%) |
| Dhruv Jurel (RR) | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 14 crore | 6900 |
| Matheesha Pathirana (CSK | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 13 crore | 6400 |
| Rajat Patidar (RCB) | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 11 crore | 5400 |
| Mayank Yadav (LSG) | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 11 crore | 5400 |
| Sai Sudharsan (GT) | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 8.50 crore | 4150 |
| Shashank Singh (PBKS) | Rs 20 Lakh | Rs 5.5 crore | 2650 |
| Rinku Singh (KKR) | Rs 55 lakh | Rs 13 crore | 2264 |
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians retained all their top players, including skipper Hardik Panndya, national captains Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, pace star Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma, exhausting their full retention purse of Rs 75 crore.
