Hardik Pandya will continue as captain as Mumbai Indians retained him, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. With the IPL’s deadline closing at 5pm on Thursday, Rishabh Pant became the most high-profile India player to go into the mega auction after ending his nine-year association with Delhi Capitals. KL Rahul has been released by Lucknow Super Giants, as was Shreyas Iyer who led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL win earlier this year.

These are significant developments as four sides—KKR, LSG, DC, Punjab Kings—could now be jousting for an Indian captain. Among them, Punjab Kings have the largest auction purse of ₹110.5 crore after retaining the uncapped Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh. Among Indians, Virat Kohli was the most expensive retention with Royal Challengers Bengaluru spending ₹21 crore, raising the possibility of RCB making him the captain again.

Bumrah was retained for ₹18 crore while India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya were paid ₹16.35 crore each. Sharma is being given ₹16.3 crore. Retaining Sharma, MI’s most capped player in IPL history, is a positive move from the franchise after months of conjecture over his possible exit in the aftermath of Pandya becoming captain in 2024 and MI finishing bottom of the table for only the second time in 17 seasons.

“I’m thrilled to be part of Mumbai Indians again. I played so much cricket here. This is the place where I have started my cricket career. So, this city is very, very special and I am happy to be here,” Sharma was quoted as saying in a media release. Rohit also backed MI’s decision to retain five capped India players—with the franchise spending a total of ₹75 crore—saying, “You know the players that are representing the national team at the highest level should get the preference. That’s what I believe in and I’m quite happy with it.”

Swashbuckling batter Heinrich Klaasen was the most expensive overseas player retention, with Sunrisers Hyderabad loosening their purse by ₹23 crore for the South African. Rashid Khan is another example of an overseas player commanding a higher retention price than the franchise captain after Gujarat Titans spent ₹18 crore for him, ₹1.5 crore more than Shubman Gill.

MS Dhoni is set to play another IPL season, as Chennai Super Kings retained him for ₹4 crore after the IPL governing council revived a rule last month that allows an Indian player who hasn’t played international cricket for five years to be considered as an uncapped player. Dhoni last played in the 2019 ODI World Cup. The rule allowed CSK to retain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja for ₹18 crore each. Matheesha Pathirana ( ₹13 cr) and Shivam Dube ( ₹12 crore) are their two other retentions.

Apart from MI, SRH, CSK, LSG and GT were the other franchises to retain five players. RCB retained three while Punjab Kings—possibly the only franchise to have chopped and changed their squad so frequently—will have to buy an entire players roster apart from a captain.

KKR and Rajasthan Royals are the only two sides to have exhausted their quota of six retentions. In a late twist, Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell was retained by KKR after talks with Iyer fell through. Apart from Russell, KKR have signed Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine and the uncapped Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh to be left with a purse of ₹51 crore for the auction. Royals retained their batting core of Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer apart from medium pacer Sandeep Sharma but are left with only ₹41 crore.