Best playing 12 of retained players ahead of IPL 2025 Auction ft. Virat Kohli and Travis Head
To keep the concept of the mega auction alive and highly marketable, the IPL authorities tried to make retaining players as difficult and unpalatable as possible. Still, the 10 franchises came up with unique combinations to not only keep as many of their best players as possible but also minimize discontent.
On one hand, Mumbai Indians (MI) gave almost similar salaries to three of their leaders, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. On the other, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) let go of their title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer to retain almost all of their more T20-specialising core. Together, the retentions were indications of players that in the franchise's eyes, were must-holds.
As you must know by now, we at Sportskeeda love hypothetical 11s (or 12 in IPL's case) of players with something in common. Below, we have made a combined 11 of all retained players, judging by the players' quality and form in the last season.
These were obviously difficult choices and highly subjective. So feel free to criticize a pick or two and share your best team in the comments.
Top-order: Travis Head, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli
There wasn't a better opener in IPL 2024 than Travis Head with his 567 runs at a still-unbelievable strike rate of 191.55. The Australian left-hander showed why he was a steal for just ₹6.80 crore in the IPL 2024 auction and deserved more than double of ₹14 crore that SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) will pay him from 2025.
Abhishek Sharma matched his explosivity to the T and they played like left-handed Aussie and Indian twins. But, for this 11, we have gone with someone more experienced -- Yashasvi Jaiswal. The Rajasthan Royals opener managed 435 with a strike rate of 155.91 in 2024, despite not playing at his best.
A massive prospect for India in all three formats, Jaiswal does exactly what Head does for Australia and SRH despite being eight years his junior. This partnership of relentless left-handed attack (Jaiswal is currently better than Abhishek against off-spinners, too) would be as good as it gets in the IPL.
To back them, you need a bit of stability and who else can take number three better than Virat Kohli? Despite his troubles in Tests and the IPL before last season and his T20I retirement earlier this year, he was the highest run-scorer in IPL 2024 with 741 runs at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69.
Kohli, who was retained for ₹21 crore by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), only narrowly beats Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (the second-highest run-scorer) for the number three spot. Both mostly opened the innings last season but are equally capable of managing coming one-down.
Middle-order: Suryakumar Yadav, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Andre Russell, and Rinku Singh
This is the spine of this side and a cheat code for IPL. There's nothing more to say about Suryakumar and the season's most-expensive player so far, Heinrich Klaasen (SRH for ₹23 crore), that they are the two best T20 batters in the world. Together, in a middle-order following that top three, they'll be unstoppable.
Add two floating finishers and you get something too dangerous to be possible: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) duo Andre Russell and Rinku Singh. Russell is one of the best lower-order batters in IPL history and after regaining pristine fitness, was also the best middle-overs pacer in IPL 2024. He adds quality balance to the side.
There shouldn't be any doubt that Rinku, KKR's most expensive retention at ₹13 crore, despite hardly getting enough chances to bat in 2024, is one of the best finishers in India. But he is in this team by beating more in-form players -- Sanju Samson, Rajat Patidar, Shivam Dube, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
The only reasoning behind it is that all four of those players are more like middle-order batters who can play in the lower order. When you have Kohli, Suryakumar and Klaasen as your three, four and five, you need players who can come after them with only a few balls to go in the innings to hit sixes. Rinku gives just that.
Bowlers: Rashid Khan, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah
Two of these bowlers are IPL all-time greats, Jasprit Bumrah and Rashid Khan. They were the most straightforward picks of this team. They had contrasting seasons in 2024, with Rashid not fully recovered from an injury but only that can't put him below any of the other overseas players retained.
Both Bumrah and Rashid would be the highest-earners for ₹18 crore at MI and Gujarat Titans (GT), respectively, and deserve every bit of it for their experience and sheer skill to single-handedly turn and win games in the IPL.
Backing them are two more members of KKR and the selection of both can be put down to recency bias. Uncapped pace all-rounder Harshit Rana (retained for ₹4 crore) and spinner Varun Chakavarthy (₹12 crore) were the second and joint-fourth highest wicket-takers in 2024.
Harshit's only competition among the retentions were Sandeep Sharma, Mohsin Khan and Yash Dayal but none of them performed better than him. Someone like Harshal Patel (who won the Purple Cap) or Arshdeep Singh (level with Harshit for wickets) could've beaten him to this 11 but neither was retained by Punjab Kings.
Harshit's ability to bowl in all phases would complement Bumrah and Russell perfectly and he'll also extend the team's batting depth to number nine.
Chakaravarthy beat former teammate Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi for this list. But he had one of the best seasons for a spinner in 2024, even as the other three struggled to pick up wickets. Chakaravarthy has since also earned an Indian comeback and looks set to be with the team for the long run.
Impact Player: Hardik Pandya
It's almost ironical that the impact player of this team is an all-rounder, but Hardik Pandya, out of form at the IPL but close to his best at the World Cup, is the perfect fit. He can be an additional batter or a four-overs bowler when needed.