Aakash Chopra On Rajasthan Royals IPL Retention: Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra has predicted which players the Rajasthan Royals should retain ahead of the mega-auction for IPL 2025.
The new rules for retention for the 2025 season of the IPL state that each team can retain up to six players each, a maximum of five of which can be capped players, while two at most can be uncapped. The players retained first will cost Rs. 18 crore, the second will cost 14 crore, and the third will be paid 11 crore.
If a team wants to retain two more capped players, they will cost Rs. 18 crore and 14 crore, respectively. Any uncapped player retained will cost only Rs. 4 crore.
The Royals have had a good three-year run in the IPL. Arguably the best-looking team coming out of the 2022 mega auction, the Jaipur-based franchise reached the final for the second time in their history that season. They got off to a good start in 2023 before faltering towards the end and finishing fifth. In 2024, they had a fantastic start to the season and finished the season in the bronze medal position.
Aakash Chopra On Rajasthan Royals IPL Retention
The Royals have an impressive batting attack on paper. So when Aakash Chopra recently uploaded a video about the retention by the franchise on his YouTube channel, he predicted that the side’s three most popular and successful batters should be locked in for retention, those being Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, and captain Sanju Samson. He said,
“Their top three retentions should be Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. You can decide one, two, and three—it really doesn’t make a difference, because whether you leave out Yashasvi, Sanju, or Jos Buttler, they will go for 14 to 15 crores. All three are batters, which includes two Indians. Your top three are set. You need to retain these three.”
Chopra then went on to talk about Riyan Parag. The Assamese all-rounder finally rose up to his potential after years of failure in the IPL. In the 2024 season, he came out with all guns blazing, being the franchise’s top run scorer with 573 runs at a strike rate of 149.21.
However, Aakash Chopra feels that a price tag of Rs 18 crore might be a little too much for Parag. But he also stated that the franchise would want to keep a hold of him.
“After that, you will have slight problems. You will wish a lot to retain Riyan Parag. However, I won’t agree with Riyan Parag for 18 crores,” he said.
Finally, talking about the uncapped slot for retention for the Rajasthan Royals, Chopra suggested the name of pacer bowler Sandeep Sharma. While ‘Sandy’ has represented India at the highest level, rules state that any player who has not played for the national team or has not had a central contract for five years can be considered an uncapped player. This applies to Sandeep.
“Sandeep Sharma is an uncapped Indian. You can keep him with you for four crores. Then you will be left with two Right To Match cards,” he said.
Aakash also believes that the Royals can use their RTM (Right to Match) cards, which will count towards the retention slots in the IPL 2025 auction, on Riyan Parag and Yuzvendra Chahal.
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