The Indian Premier League (IPL) retentions for the 2025 edition hogged the headlines on Thursday, October 31. 10 teams retained 46 players. MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma have been retained yet again and they will continue their journeys with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) respectively.
The Super Kings retained for INR 4 crore after exercising the ‘uncapped player’ rule. Virat Kohli remained with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru after being retained for INR 21 crore. Jasprit Bumrah has stayed with MI, the five-time champions, for INR 18 crore.
But there were a few releases that raised eyebrows. Some of the players who played several match-winning knocks and bowled jaw-dropping spells were not retained by their respective franchises.
Here are some of the surprise releases ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer captained the Knight Riders to glory last season, ending their 10-year-long wait for lifting an IPL title. Along with head coach Chandrakant Pandit and mentor Gautam Gambhir, Shreyas helped the Knight Riders recover after they failed to make their way through to the playoffs in 2023.
KL Rahul
KL Rahul is one of the more experienced players in the IPL, having played for multiple teams. He joined Lucknow Super Giants in 2022 after playing for Punjab Kings for a couple of seasons. In 2022, he was their standout batter after he smashed two hundreds against the Mumbai Indians. But somehow, he could not hold on to his spot in the team.
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant holds numerous records for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Back in 2016, he joined DC and kept plundering runs for them. In 2018, he scored 128 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Pant is also their only batter with over 100 sixes. He also became the fifth youngest IPL captain back in 2021.
Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan is someone who plays his shots freely without fearing bowlers. After playing for the defunct Gujarat Lions, Kishan moved to Mumbai Indians in 2018 and made an impact right away. But after seven seasons, the five-time champions released him. Kishan is amongst the six MI batters to score over 2000 runs in the IPL.
Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami won the Purple Cap in IPL 2023 after he picked up 28 wickets from 17 games at an economy rate of 8.03. But the pacer has had his fair share of injury concerns. Since the ODI World Cup last year in Ahmedabad, Shami has not played a single match, and it’s still not known when he will return.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal is the all-time leading wicket-taker in the history of the IPL. In fact, he is the only bowler to have taken 200 wickets. But despite being on top of the charts, Rajasthan Royals decided to release him. It should not raise eyebrows if he fetches big money in the upcoming auction.
