(Cricket news) With two new franchises coming to the IPL next year, there was bound to be some major changes as a total of 27 players were retained by the eight existing franchises. A total of 269 crores were spent to hold on to these 27 players, which included 19 Indians, four uncapped players and eight foreigners. Let us take a look at the players retained by each franchise:

1) Chennai Super Kings

Retained – Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad

MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja were the first names for the defending champions as both have been a part of the franchise since 2011, the only point of discussion was which place would Dhoni take but eventually they selected him as the top pick because it would swell their purse ahead of the next auction, if he retires after the 2022 season. Jadeja was retained for 16cr and took the second spot with 12cr. The third slot was the most debated as the CSK management opted for Moeen Ali over Faf Du Plessis. In most likelihood, Moeen’s all round skills and his plethora of T20 experience swung the scale his way, he was retained for 8cr. The final spot went to the highest run getter from last year as Ruturaj Gaikwad as he was retained for 6cr. It has been learnt that the Super Kings have earmarked the Maharashtra and India batter as a future captain too.

Major players released: Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Suresh Raina, Deepak Chahar

2) Kolkata Knight Riders

Retained – Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine 

The runners up from last season opted for continuity and promoting promising talent like Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy who have subsequently become mainstays of the team. While Russell and Narine have been loyal players for Knight Riders for a while as they were relatively quick to sign fresh contracts, Chakravarthy and Iyer were keen to bargain for better financial packages. Ultimately Andre Russell was retained for 12 cr, followed by Venkatesh Iyer for 8cr, Varun Chakravarthy was allotted the spot for a price of 8cr and Sunil Narine occupied the last spot as he was retained for 6cr.  KKR will enter the auction with a purse of 48cr in the mega auction next year.

Knight Riders' chief executive officer Venky Mysore said, “Leaving out Shubman Gill was a tough choice, but the franchise felt Iyer and Chakravarthy possessed skills that are not easily found in the auction”.

Major players released: Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill, Dinesh Karthik, Lockie Ferguson

3) Delhi Capitals

Retained – Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje

Delhi Capitals have been the most consistent side over the last three years as they have made the playoffs in every season under the guidance of Ricky Ponting. All four players retained by DC have been match winners over the last two or three years as the franchise saw the quartet as the core group around which the rest of the unit could be assembled during the auction. The only talking point for them is the absence of Shreyas Iyer as he will now look to captain one of the two new franchises that is going to enter next year. DC retained Pant for 16cr, followed by Axar Patel for 9cr, then Prithvi Shaw for 7.5cr and Anrich Nortje for 6.5cr.

Major players released: Shreyas Iyer, Avesh Khan, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada

4) Royal Challengers Bangalore

Retained – Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj

The Royal Challengers Bangalore retained only three players as they are heading into a new era with Virat Kohli not being the captain of the franchise. Glenn Maxwell, for the first time in his IPL career was retained, getting the second slot at Royal Challengers while Mohammed Siraj was the third. While it came as a surprise that RCB didn’t retain a fourth player especially when they had the trio of Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal and Harshal Patel to choose from. The only logical thinking could be that they wanted a larger purse to go after a high profile player who could come in and lead this franchise, RCB have a purse of 57cr after retaining Kohli for 15cr, Maxwell for 11cr and Siraj for 7cr.

Major players released: Devdutt Padikkal, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal

5) Mumbai Indians

Retained – Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard

Mumbai Indians always had two slots booked for Rohit and Jasprit but the dilemma for the MI management was the other two remaining retention spots. MI have been a champion side winning two titles in a row with a very talented group of players but when given a choice to retain only four players it becomes difficult. The MI management opted to go with Suryakumar Yadav as the third retained player because the team management felt Kishan had more impact mainly batting in the top order as opposed to Suryakumar who is not just a 360-degree batter but also can float around the batting order. With the fourth retention MI showed their loyalty to their most loyal foreigner Kieron Pollard as they retained him for 6 cr.

Major players released: Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya

6) Punjab Kings

Retained – Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh

The Punjab Kings are again going through a rebuild next season as they will enter the 2022 auction with the strongest purse of INR 72 crore. The Punjab Kings management didn’t dwell too much after learning KL Rahul doesn’t want to be a part of this franchise, they moved in quickly to start negotiations with Mayank Agarwal, a potential captaincy candidate. While Arshdeep was logical second choice as he not only impressed everyone with his skill set but also showed that he can play under pressure.

Major players released: KL Rahul, Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholas Pooran

7) Rajasthan Royals

Retained – Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal

The major question was will the Rajasthan management retain the English trio, as they eventually decided to retain Jos Buttler and let go off Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. The Royals have shown faith in Sanju Samson and made him their first retention for 14cr followed by Buttler for 10cr and Yashasvi Jaiswal for 4cr as they enter the auction with a healthy purse of 62cr. 

Major players released: Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer

Also read: Kohli, Maxwell, Rohit, Dhoni retained ahead of IPL mega auction

8) Sunrisers Hyderabad

Retained – Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik

The major question everyone had on their mind was how did they let Rashid go? It is understood that he was second on the list of retention, however he wanted a better deal and test the waters of the mega auction next year. One thing the SRH management stuck with was their captain Kane Williamson as they have identified him to lead the franchise through this mini rebuild. The Sunrisers have also held on to two uncapped Indian players, both from Jammu & Kashmir in aggressive batter Abdul Samad and fast bowler Umran Malik who made his IPL debut this season and showed extreme pace, touching 150kph. Despite Rashid's absence, one thing favouring the Sunrisers at the auction is a big purse of 68 crore

Major players released: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar