Franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are permitted to retain up to six players, and Kolkata Knight Riders are the only team that has utilized the full allowance. As a result, they will enter the IPL 2025 mega auction without any Right to Match (RTM) cards. While there was much speculation regarding which players would be retained or released, the retention lists included some expected choices and a few surprising decisions. Here, we highlight three players whose retention came as a surprise in IPL 2025.
3 surprise retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction
Rohit Sharma
Everyone speculated that Rohit Sharma would not continue with the Mumbai Indians in the next edition after the captaincy shuffle, with Hardik Pandya taking over as skipper. However, Rohit has decided to continue playing for MI. He is the franchise’s fourth retention, with a contract of 16.30 crore ahead of IPL 2025.
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Prabhsimran Singh
The Punjab Kings’ retention list was the most surprising, as they retained only two players, both uncapped, for 4 crore each. Opting not to retain Arshdeep Singh and Sam Curran, they instead chose Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh for IPL 2025. The likely reason for these retentions could be the impressive performances both players delivered in IPL 2024. Prabhsimran, in particular, was their highest run-scorer with 334 runs.
Shahrukh Khan
Shahrukh Khan’s retention was not particularly impressive, given his ordinary performance in IPL 2024. Despite being the most expensive Indian player bought by the Gujarat Titans, he was unable to replicate his IPL 2023 form. Nevertheless, the franchise has shown faith in him.
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