IPL Retention: 10 top players including Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer who may not be retained

The deadline for Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises to submit their list of retained players is just around the corner, with the league’s Governing Council (GC) having earlier Thursday, 31 October as the final day for the same. The league set for a second mega auction in less than three years and teams have been allowed to retain a maximum of six players from their existing squad, either by inclusion in the retention list or via Right To Match (RTM) after being released into the auction pool.

Ahead of the retention deadline, we take a look at some of the top players who are likely to be released by their respective franchises:

Rishabh Pant

Pant was reportedly set to be retained by the Delhi Capitals as their captain following discussions between the India wicketkeeper-batter and the franchise management. However, his cryptic post on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) earlier this month led to speculation that Pant might indeed be on his way out.

If go to the auction. will I be sold or not and for how much ??

— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) October 11, 2024

Pant has been with the Delhi Capitals for eight years since making his IPL debut in 2016, but that partnership appears likely to end in the coming days. That is unless the 2020 runners-up bring Pant back into their fold via Right To Match (RTM).

Ishan Kishan

There were reports of Rohit Sharma being released by the franchises that he helped win five IPL titles as captain. However, it is now believed that the ‘Hitman’ might end up in the retained list along with skipper Hardik Pandya as well as Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.

MI had released wicketkeeper-batter and opener Ishan Kishan into the player pool ahead of the 2022 mega auction, and they might go down that route this year as well.

KL Rahul

Lucknow Super Giants captain Rahul had received a public dressing down from team owner Sanjiv Goenka after their 10-wicket thrashing at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad at home earlier this year. Despite the fact that Rahul and the team management have maintained a cordial relationship since that incident, even if for appearances’ sake, his future with the franchise that he has captained since its debut in 2022 appears highly unlikely.

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Not only have LSG questioned his ability to lead the team after their failure to qualify for the playoffs last season, his scoring rate has also been an issue.

Shreyas Iyer

It would be nothing short of remarkable if Kolkata Knight Riders released Shreyas Iyer right after winning their first IPL title in a decade under the leadership of the senior India batter. Iyer has been quite impressive a leader in the IPL, having previously led DC to the final in 2020 and later helped the Knight Riders win the 2024 edition.

However, Iyer’s place in the retention list becomes tricky due to the presence of several other match-winners such as Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc along with Indian youngsters such as Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar is among the leading wicket-takers in the history of the Indian Premier League, having collected 181 wickets, including two five-fors, in 176 appearances at an average of 27.23 and a career economy that’s under 8 (7.56). After making his IPL debut with Pune Warriors India in 2011, ‘Bhuvi’ joined the ‘Orange Army’ ahead of the 2014 edition and has been with the franchise ever since.

However, with so many stars in SRH’s squad and the fact that they have formidable pace options in captain Pat Cummins as well as left-arm pacer T Natarajan, the likelihood of Bhuvneshwar’s name featuring in the shortlist appears quite slim at present.

Whether Bhuvneshwar is bought back in the auction, either through the highest bid of via RTM, or he bids the franchise goodbye after a decade-long journey is something that we will find out soon enough.

David Warner

Pant might not be the only one parting ways with the Capitals this season, with the team unlikely to continue with Warner for much longer and setting their sights on a new top-order batter. Warner not only didn’t have much luck as captain during Pant’s injury-forced absence in the 2023 edition, in which the Capitals finished second-from-bottom, his own form has taken a beating in recent seasons.

The southpaw, who retired from all forms of international cricket after the T20 World Cup in June, had scored just 168 runs at an average of 21 in IPL this year, numbers which certainly don’t look good for a top-order batter.

Kane Williamson

There were reports of star leg-spinner Rashid Khan parting ways with Gujarat Titans, with Mumbai Indians reportedly eyeing the Afghan. Letting go of someone of Rashid’s calibre, however, would certainly raise a lot of eyebrows and the Titans aren’t likely to make any further trades with MI after losing captain Pandya to the five-time champions.

Instead, former New Zealand captain and batting icon Kane Williamson might be the one who might not make GT’s shortlist that appears to have skipper Shubman Gill, David Miller, B Sai Sudharsan and Mohammed Shami besides Rashid at present. Williamson hasn’t crossed the 300-run mark in the IPL for four years now and barely participated in the last two seasons.

Faf du Plessis

Royal Challengers skipper Faf du Plessis might be another captain getting released into the IPL 2025 mega auction player pool, possibly joining the likes of Pant, Rahul, Iyer and Dhawan. Du Plessis did lead RCB into the playoffs in two of the last three seasons after his move from Chennai Super Kings.

However, the Royal Challengers will also be thinking about the future when making their retention list and at the age of 40, things certainly do appear tricky for the former South Africa captain.

Glenn Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell appeared to have rediscovered his form in the Indian Premier League after joining the Royal Challengers in 2021 from Punjab Kings, scoring 513 runs that season followed by 301 in 2022 and 400 in 2023 – his strike rate only getting better with each season.

However, Maxwell could only manage 52 runs for the Royal Challengers last season in 10 outings at a strike rate of 120.93, which certainly have hurt his chances of getting retained alongside the likes of Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, Cameron Green, Will Jacks and Yash Dayal.

Jos Buttler

Reports suggest Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper-batter and opener Jos Buttler might be released into the auction pool this year, thanks primarily to Riyan Parag’s brilliant run with the bat last season which might have boosted his case of getting retained ahead of the 31 October deadline.

Besides Parag and skipper Samson, the two leading run-scorers for the franchise in IPL 2024, the Royals would also be keen on retaining pacer Trent Boult and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal from the bowling department. Whether they end up getting Boult back using the RTM card or not remains to be seen.