In India, there are several domestic cricket leagues that are quite exciting in the modern T20 format. From the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to the President Cup, almost all states have separate franchise-based cricket tournaments. However, among all these famous cricket tournaments, Indian Premier League(IPL) stands out differently. The huge amount of prize money, the fierce competition, and the presence of big players— at a glance, playing IPL is a dream of every domestic and international cricketer. The IPL 2025 will be very different as BCCI has made some new retention rules. Each of the participating teams can retain six players from their team. Interestingly, every team must give their retention list to BCCI before the 31st of October.
So with the new BCCI rules, all franchises announced their list of retained players yesterday night. Some new players receive higher bids than expected, while others, especially uncapped ones, go for lower prices. South African wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen gets the highest price for the upcoming season. He was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a record-breaking ₹23 crore. Here is a look at the top 10 players retained at the highest prices:
1. Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad): The star wicket-keeper batter became the highest-paid retained player for IPL 2025. He is incredible with the bat in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. In the previous IPL season, he also made his maiden IPL century against his former team Bangalore (RCB), scoring 104 runs from 51 balls. The veteran African batter has experience playing in various franchise leagues like BPL, ILT20, and SA20. That’s why Sunrisers Hyderabad retained him for an impressive ₹23 crore.
2. Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore): The star Indian Batter currently dominates this league. The highest run-getter of IPL and the face of RCB, Virat Kohli, was retained for ₹21 crore. He became the highest-paid retained Indian player for the 2025 IPL season.
3. Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants): It is quite surprising that the Lucknow Franchise did not retain their captain KL Rahul. Despite that, they retain the Caribbean star wicketkeeper-batter, Nicholas Pooran. Nicholas had played some great knocks in the previous season. His addition to the LSG unit will add more firepower to the team’s batting unit. He was retained by Lucknow Super Giants for a hefty ₹21 crore.
4. Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings): For the past three months, there were consistent rumours that Ruturaj Gaikwad would not be retained by Chennai Super Kings, with Rishabh Pant likely to take his place. Interestingly, with a surprise the Chennai team retained his captain for ₹18 crore. The Indian opener has played some of his best knocks in the IPL with the Yellow Jersey.
5. Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings): The veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was retained by Chennai Super Kings for ₹18 crore. He became the fifth highest-paid player with his IPl teammate Ruturaj.
6. Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai Indians): Indian pace sensation Jasprit Bumrah became the third highest-paid Indian player for the 2025 IPL season. We all know about this greatness. He was retained by Mumbai Indians for ₹18 crore, keeping one of their key players for another season.
7. Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals): Just a few months ago he scored his 1st t20 hundred as an opener in the IND vs BAN T20 series. He was also five hundred plus runs in the previous season of IPL. The star wicketkeeper-batsman and the captain of Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson, was retained by Rajasthan for ₹18 crore.
8. Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rajasthan Royals): At just the age of 22, he has already become the star player of the Indian Cricket Team. He was retained by the Rajasthan Royals for ₹18 crore, the highest of any Indian young batter.
9. Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad): The Australian captain was retained for ₹18 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Although he was the second-highest player in the previous IPL season.
10. Rashid Khan (Gujarat Titans): The star Afghanistan cricketer has already experience playing various franchise leagues in the world. He was retained by Gujarat Titans for ₹18 crore.