IPL 2025 Retained Players Best Playing 11 – Priority Auction List
Virat Kohli among the favorites as we look at the priority list of best retained players 11 ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction.
The Indian Premier League is currently in big focus as the IPL management and the leadership of the 10 franchises currently contemplating the Auction strategy for the upcoming IPL 2025 Mega Auction. The Mega Auction is in general conducted every 3 years, and with 2022 being the last time it was conducted, we will be witnessing the Mega event again this year in December.
The tournament’s status quo has been increasing every passing year with players’ Auction prices reaching the roof, and the Auction purse making substantial gains every year. The year 2025 will be no different with the Auction purse expected to be around 125-130 Cr (An increase of 25-30%) from the previous year, and a significant change in terms of player retentions and RTM numbers.
It is no secret that each team has those 5-6 core players whom they want to retain at any cost. If we look at the IPL 2025 possible retained players list, there are around 30 players, who will be retained at any cost. Between these 30 players, there will be a few batters, all-rounders, wicket-keepers, and a few bowlers. Each player brings something unique to the table, and that is what makes these retentions interesting.
IPL 2024 Retained Players Analysis
But how about we look at 11 such players, who according to their capability make up the most desired players list when it comes to retentions? So, considering the best 2 openers, super middle-order, wicket-keeper, all-rounders, and bowlers, how about we look at the IPL 2025 Auction priority-wise best retained players playing 11. These are the players, who shall be on the priority 1 list, and thus make it a part of our final 11.
If we were to talk about the best openers who shall be in demand when it comes to player retentions, it will be Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jos Buttler, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Devon Conway, Phil Salt, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, and Abhishek Sharma. It’s a list full of potential players, and they can make a playing 11 of their own. It’s very difficult to select just two names from such high high-potential list, but we will have to do it.
Now, from the list, if we had to shortlist the list to 4 names based on their performance and utility in the team, it shall be Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Jos Buttler. These four openers have been in red-hot form not just in IPL but also in the International circuit. But if we have to select two, we shall go with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who are also the first-choice openers in the Indian team. These two shall also be number 1 on the list of players that their respective franchises would like to retain.
Other Batters
Coming to the middle-order batters, we shall see batters and wicket-keepers like Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Sanju Samson. These players have been performing for their team in the IPL in the last few years, and shall also be in demand for the retentions.
From these batters, we will have to select two pure batters and 1 wicket-keeper. If we purely keep performance as the criteria at the IPL and international levels, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Heinrich Klaasen look like the best of the lot. It’s unfortunate for Pant and Pooran to miss as these two are also dangerous batters, but Kohli, SKY, and Klassen shall be priority one plus when it comes to retentions for IPL 2025.
All-rounders
Moving on to the all-rounders, we are looking at potential players like Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Mitchell Marsh, and Glenn Maxwell. Now, we can select as many as we want as all these can bat as well as bowl. But considering the priority bowlers, we are selecting three from this category, and those are Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine.
There is no doubt that Captain Hardik Pandya, and KKR’s biggest match winners, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell shall be the biggest all-rounders under the scanner when it comes to player retention. Sure, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja are not bad either, but if we were to select the best of the best, it shall be Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Hardik Pandya.
Bowlers
Finally, talking about the bowlers, there aren’t many options that teams might look to retain. Among the potential bowlers, we are looking at the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Pat Cummins, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Arshdeep Singh.
As one can see, there aren’t many great options that each team would definitely want to retain. But if we were to select three bowlers to complete our playing 11, it has got to be Jasprit Bumrah, Rashid Khan, and Mohammed Shami. These three bowlers will be right at the top when it comes to the best bowlers in T20s. Also, given the team composition, all three will be retained by their respective franchise.
IPL 2025 Retained Players Best Playing 11 – Priority List
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Shubman Gill
- Virat Kohli
- Suryakumar Yadav (c)
- Heinrich Klaasen (wk)
- Hardik Pandya
- Andre Russell
- Sunil Narine
- Rashid Khan
- Mohammed Shami
- Jasprit Bumrah
So, that’s about the best playing 11 for priority-wise retained players for IPL 2025. Of course, there are many quality players still missing from the 11. Hence, if we had to select an alternate playing 11, it shall be Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Pat Cummins.
