Rajasthan Royals (RR) have retained six star players in the form of Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Rajasthan's retention announcement doesn't come across as a surprise as these six players were among their top performers in the previous season.
Skipper Sanju Samson and opening bat Yashasvi Jaiswal are the two top retentions announced by Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan Royals have decided to pay both Sanju and Yashasvi 18 crore each. Allrounder Riyan Parag and wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel have been retained for 14 crore each whereas the franchise has retained Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma for 11 crore and four crore respectively.
The decision to retain Sanju Samson was an obvious one. Sanju amassed 531 runs in 16 games in the previous season at a strike rate of 153.46, including five half-centuries. However, above all, it was Sanju who led them to the playoffs while leading from the front before they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2.
Notably, Rajasthan are only the second franchise apart from Kolkata Knight Riders which has retained six players ahead of the mega auction. Surprisingly, Rajasthan have not retained several of their star players like Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Rovman Powell among others.
Rajasthan Royals' list of retained players: Sanju Samson (18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (18 crore), Riyan Parag (14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (4 crore)
Purse remaining: INR 41 crore
RTM options at auction: None
Players eligible for RTM: None
Rajasthan Royals' list of released players:
Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kunal Rathore, Avesh Khan, Tanush Kotian, Shubham Dubey, Abid Mushtaq, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, Donovan Ferreira, Rovman Powell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj
