IPL Retention 2025 Trends: Five franchises lose captains as Indians dominate the list and spinners go missing

The final retention lists for all 10 Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have been submitted and the attention is now surely shifting to the auctions. Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will enter the IPL 2025 mega auction with the biggest purses of Rs 110.5 crore and Rs 83 crore respectively. But before we shift our attention to the auction, let’s look at the biggest trends that emerged from the IPL 2025 retentions.

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Half of the teams release their captains

One of the most striking observations from the retentions was that five IPL teams released their captains. Having a stable captaincy is key to success, but the released players’ list indicates that half of the franchises were not happy with the captains. Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have also released their captain Shreyas Iyer, which could also be because of salary demands but nonetheless, he will be available in the auction.

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Other captains to be released include Rishabh Pant from Delhi Capitals (DC), KL Rahul from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Faf du Plessis from RCB, and Sam Curran from PBKS. This also means players with captaincy experience like Shreyas Iyer or Jos Buttler could fetch big bids in the auction.

No one loves spinners

The spinners have always been at the forefront in the IPL, helping teams win matches and trophies, but only three specialist spinners – Kuldeep Yadav (DC), Ravi Bishnoi (LSG) and Varun Chakravarthy (KKR) – have been retained this time. The overall retention list also includes a few spin-bowling all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja, Rashid Khan, Axar Patel and Sunil Narine. Yuzvendra Chahal, the all-time highest wicket-taker in IPL history with 205 wickets, was not retained by Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Indian players and batters lead the retention list

Overall 46 players have been retained by 10 IPL teams with only KKR and RR completing their full quota of six players. PBKS retained the least, just two players, and was the only side to retain just uncapped players. 36 out of 46 retained players are Indians which doesn’t come as a surprise considering IPL teams always prioritise building an Indian core.

Mumbai Indians (MI), RCB, and PBKS have not retained a single foreign player, while other teams have retained at least one.

Just as spinners were not among the preferred retentions, bowlers also fell behind batters in the selection process. Out of 46 players retained, 28 are pure batters, along with seven all-rounders and 11 bowlers.

LSG were the only team that invested heavily in specialist bowlers, retaining Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, and Mohsin Khan.