Rahul Dravid has his work cut out for him. The new Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach has to decide the retention picks for the IPL 2025 season, just a month into the job. Having reached the playoffs last season, their team is set. But they’ll have to do away with some of their tried and tested performers. It’s not just that they can retain a six players, but that doing so will cost them a fortune. To ensure they take a strong team, they’ll have to pick and choose. Who stays and who goes under the hammer?
RR retention list for IPL 2025
Retention No. 1 (Rs 18 crore) – Sanju Samson
Retention No. 2 (Rs 14 crore) – Jos Buttler
Retention No. 3 (Rs 11 crore) – Riyan Parag
Retention No. 4 (Rs 18 crore) – Yashasvi Jaiswal
Retention No. 5 (Rs 4 crore) (uncapped) – Sandeep Sharma
Retention No. 6 – RTM (depending upon permutations and combinations during the mega auction)
Purse left – 55 crores
Samson-Jaiswal for Rs 18 crore
No one has led RR in more matches and victories than Sanju Samson. Taken over the job in 2021, he’s taken the franchise to the playoffs in 2022 and 2024. But one can’t forget that he’s also their best batter. No one has scored more runs than Samson for RR, and he was their best batter last season as well. He’s currently in his peak and we are yet to see him at his best. No doubt he’ll be their first retention.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has been a revelation. The southpaw is already RR’s fifth-highest scorer, and of the players who’ve scored over 1000 runs as an opener in the IPL, he has the fifth-best strike rate. Some might think Rs 18 crore is too much for him right now, but he’s RR’s future. At 22, Jaiswal’s already one of RR’s best players. The opener can go on to play for the Royals for more than a decade and can take over Samson as captain in the future.
Parag-Buttler over Chahal, Boult & Hetmyer
Riyan Parag finally came of age in IPL 2024. RR persisted with him from the IPL 2019 to 2023 seasons despite slim returns. Now that he’s shown that he understands his game and has started to produce results, they can’t let him go. He’s already broken into India’s T20 side, and letting him go to the auction would be a mistake now. One can’t forget he’s a gun fielder and can give you a couple of overs from time to time.
Jos Buttler averages over 40 and strikes at nearly 150 for RR. No one can do what the English wicketkeeper can. When he left at the end of the last season, RR felt his absence. After he left, they lost two of the three completed matches and couldn’t lift that elusive IPL trophy. Also, with him, Samson, Jaiswal and Parag, RR’s top order will be set and will be arguably the best one of all 10 teams.
To ensure they have enough money in their purse, they’ll have to let Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult and Shimron Hetmyer go to the auction table. Of course, they can use the Right to Match (RTM) card for one of them. Avesh Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Prasidh Krishna might be the other players for whom RR can use an RTM card, but in all likelihood, they’ll go for one of Boult, Chahal or Hetmyer.
Sandeep Sharma, RR’s only uncapped retention
From 2013 to 2020, Sandeep Sharma was one of the best powerplay bowlers in the IPL. But his form took a hit, and he got just 5 wickets in 12 matches in the IPL 2021-22 seasons. After joining RR in 2023, he’s changed himself as a bowler. So much so that last season, just 4 of his 13 wickets came in the powerplay. People even talked about a potential return to Team India after 9 years after his solid performance. There is no doubt, RR will retain him for Rs 4 crore after the medium pacer scalped 13 wickets at 24 while bowling in the middle and death overs in IPL 2024.
RR’s Current Squad
Sanju Samson (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Kunal Singh Rathore, Jos Buttler (wk), Trent Boult, Adam Zampa, Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Rovman Powell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Nandre Burger, Abid Mushtaq, Shubham Dubey, Keshav Maharaj, Tanush Kotian
