IPL 2022 Retentions: From MS Dhoni to Rohit Sharma — players retained by franchises ahead of mega auction

IPL 2022 Retention, Rules, Deadline, List of Players: The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be heralded by a mega auction. Likely to be held in late December or January 2022, the IPL 2022 Mega Auction will feature a mammoth talent pool of players up for grabs to, not eight, but ten franchises — Lucknow and Ahmedabad being the new IPL teams this year. While the teams will be spoilt for choice during the mega auction they will be allowed to retain upto four players from their current squads before the gavel comes down. As  the player retention deadline approaches, we bring to you a list of players retained, or likely to be retained, by their IPL teams before the 2022 IPL mega auction.

IPL 2022 Auction – Mumbai Indians (MI) Players Retained:
The Mukesh Ambani-owned side have chosen to retain their talisman skipper Rohit Sharma, speedster Jasprit Bumrah, and they will most likely hold onto hard-hitting Caribbean all-rounder Kieron Pollard, and Ishan Kishan – the swashbuckling keeper-batsman from Bihar.

IPL 2022 Auction – Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Players Retained:
It is a given that the Chennai side will retain the services of their iconic skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Apart from MSD, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and IPL 2021’s find-of-the-tournament Ruturaj Gaekwad too are likely to be retained by the Men in Yellow. They’ll likely cap their retentions with an overseas addition of either England all-rounder Moeen Ali or South African batsman Faf du Plessis.

IPL 2022 Auction – Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Players Retained:
Although RCB’s retentions are yet to be announced one can safely say that they’ll want to hold onto Virat Kohli for a 15^th season at the franchise. With AB de Villiers hanging his boots, there’s high probability that RCB will want to latch onto Glenn ‘Big Show’ Maxwell as their overseas retention.

IPL 2022 Auction – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Players Retained:
KKR have retained their West Indian star performers Sunil Narine and Andre Russell — both of whom have been invaluable for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned side. Apart from the Caribbean all-rounders, Kolkata have chosen not to retain any domestic talent so far.

IPL 2022 Auction – Punjab Kings (PBKS) Players Retained:
Unless KL Rahul leaves for greener pastures, the Mohali side will want to retain him to lead the Kings for another season.

IPL 2022 Auction – Rajasthan Royals (RR) Players Retained:
The Jaipur-based team have so far confirmed retention of their wicket-keeper-captain Sanju Samson for the next IPL season. ANI quoted franchise sources as saying that the other names would be announced soon.

IPL 2022 Auction – Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Players Retained:
Yet to be announced. With Aussie mainstay David Warner most likely to leave the franchise after a bitter 2021 season, it remains to be seen if Hyderabad hold onto any player from their current squad.

IPL 2022 Auction – Delhi Capitals (DC) Players Retained:
DC will be retaining their squad’s newly-appointed skipper Rishabh Pant, swashbuckling opener Prithvi Shaw, spin-allrounder Axar Patel and hold onto the fiery pace of Protean Anrich Nortje.

IPL 2022 Retention Rules:

In a mail written to the IPL franchises, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formally conveyed the rules for retention of player for IPL 2022, stating that the salary purse for all IPL teams would be the same — Rs 90 crore. In comparison, the salary purse for IPL 2021 was Rs 85 crore.

The eight existing franchises — Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals — are allowed to retain upto four players this IPL season. The franchises can finalize their IPL retentions by November 30.

As far as the player costs are concerned, franchises will be charged Rs 16 crore for the first player they retain, Rs 12 crore for the second player, Rs 8 crore for the third player and Rs 6 crore for the fourth and final pick. So, in all, a franchise will be debited Rs 42 crore from their kitty if they choose to retain four players.

After this windows shuts, from December 1 till the deadline of December 25, the two new franchises — Lucknow and Ahmedabad — will be allowed to pick three players each from the remaining pool of players from their allotted a budget of Rs 33 crore.

As far as the nationalities go, of the four retentions, existing franchises can pick a maximum of three Indian capped or uncapped players, or two overseas players. They can at most retain two uncapped Indian players.

The Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchise management cannot pick more than two Indian uncapped or capped players, or more than one overseas or uncapped Indian player.

The IPL 2022 player auction will likely be held in December 2021 or early 2022.