IPL retention: KKR skipper Shreyas, Delhi's Pant let go; Klaasen, Bumrah hit jackpot

There were enough Diwali fireworks as the 10 IPL (Indian Premier League) franchises released their list of retentions for the next three-year cycle on Thursday evening, with Heinrich Klaasen, the South African dasher, commanding the highest price tag of a whopping Rs 23 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad. The wicketkeeper-batter played a key role in the turnaround of the Orange Army’s fortunes last season, until they lost the final to Kolkata Knight Riders.

If Klaasen’s price tag was a foregone conclusion, the suspense over the fate of Shreyas Iyer — who led KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) to their first title after a gap of a decade and Rishabh Pant, the inspirational Delhi Capitals captain — ended on a predictable note. After a month-long speculation, both stars were released and will be up in the mega auction in a month’s time to seek a better price tag.

There was, meanwhile, little surprise that Lucknow Super Giants would not be retaining K.L. Rahul, their captain for the last three seasons. Rahul, a prolific scorer in the league, was in the eye of a storm last season when TV cameras caught him facing a mouthful from owner Sanjeev Goenka after a heavy defeat.

The star Indian middle-order batter’s strike rate was a cause for concern on the T20 stage, though there will be no dearth of takers for him in the auction, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru reported to be eyeing him to boost the middle order.

Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians managed to keep their house in order after the uncertainty over their decorated skipper Rohit Sharma ever since his removal as captain around the same time last year. Speculation was rife about whether the ‘Hitman’ would be putting himself up in the auction market, but it seemed a rational move on the part of the 37-year-old to stay back in his comfort zone, that too at a hefty price tag of Rs 16.30 crore.

Rohit may be third in the pecking order with his fee with Jasprit Bumrah commanding a tag of Rs 18 crore, but there is only a marginal difference between him and Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.03 crore each) while young Tilak Varma has been retained for Rs 8 crore. It was certainly a job well done by the backroom boys at MI, and one would not be surprised if Mahela Jayawardene, back as head coach and with whom Rohit enjoys a good equation, had a role to play in it.

There was great curiosity about how KKR would spread their resources, as it became increasingly apparent that they would not be ready to meet Shreyas Iyer’s demands for a higher fee. There could have been a dilemma about Andre Russell’s case, but once they made up their minds about letting go the captain, they decided to keep the West Indian stalwart who had served them so well.

The six players retained by KKR are hence Rinku Singh, whose name is now being aired as a surprise choice for possible captaincy, Varun Chakravarthy; Sunil Narine; Andre Russell and two uncapped players in Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh.

Explaining their decision, long-serving KKR CEO Venky Mysore said in a statement: ‘’The no-brainers would have been maybe 10 or 11 players, but trying to trim that down to six was very challenging, because it’s about the players that you have built an equation with and who have done fantastic for KKR.

"Sunil has been with us for 12 years while Andre has been with us for 10 years. Varun has been associated with KKR for a long time, since 2019 and Rinku as well has been with for a significant amount of time, since 2018. Harshit has been with the team for three years while Ramandeep came in last year and really made a big impact. So I think it's a good combination.’’

List of retained players by 10 IPL franchises

Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah: Rs 18 crore; Suryakumar Yadav Rs 16.35 crore; Hardik Pandya: Rs 16.35 crore, Rohit Sharma Rs 16.30 crore; Tilak Varma: Rs 8 crore. Purse remaining: Rs 55 crore (out of INR Rs 120 crore).

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad Rs 18 crore; Matheesha Pathirana Rs 13 crore; Shivam Dube Rs 12 crore; Ravindra Jadeja Rs 18 crore; MS Dhoni Rs 4 crore. Purse remaining: Rs 55 crore.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli Rs 21 crore; Rajat Patidar Rs 11 crore; Yash Dayal Rs 5 crore. Purse remaining: Rs 83 crore.

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel Rs 16.5 crore; Kuldeep Yadav Rs 13.25 crore; Tristan Stubbs Rs 10 crore; Abhishek Porel Rs 4 crore; Purse remaining: Rs 76.25 crore.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh Rs 13 crore; Varun Chakaravarthy: Rs 12 crore; Sunil Narine: Rs 12 crore; Andre Russell: Rs 12 crore; Harshit Rana: Rs 4 crore Ramandeep Singh: Rs 4 crore.

Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head.

Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharshan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan.

Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma.