IPL 2025: Ten High-Profile Players Not Retained, Heading For Mega Auction

The Indian Premier League 2025 has taken its first stride in building thrill among fans! The retained players for all 10 teams have been revealed via the IPL Retention Special on JioCinema on October 31. While several expected names secured their positions, the omission of some high-profile players, notably 2024's highest-paid star, Mitchell Starc, and KKR captain Shreyas Iyer have sent shockwaves through the cricketing community. (Retention Day Highlights)

The Indian Premier League teams are allowed to retain up to six players from the 2024 season, including five international capped players.

Meanwhile, ten prominent players who were in the headlines during the 2024 Indian Premier League season and before but have missed out on the retention list for the 2025 season are as follows:

10 Top Players Not Retained In IPL 2025

1. Mitchell Starc

The Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders for ₹25 crore (₹24.75 crore) in the 2024 Indian Premier League season—the most expensive player in the league's history—has not been retained by the defending champions for IPL 2025.

While he faced scrutiny and often became the subject of memes on social media throughout the season, he ultimately delivered solid performances, finishing the last IPL season with 17 wickets. Despite the ups and downs, he did not disappoint overall. The 34-year-old's best bowling figure was 4/33 in a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1. 

2. Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant, is heading into the IPL 2025 Mega Auction after being released by Delhi Capitals. Reports suggest that negotiations between the all-time leading run-scorer for the Capitals and the franchise owners did not go as planned.

Pant is one of the most-capped players alongside Amit Mishra. He has represented Delhi Capitals since 2016, except 2023, when he was sidelined due to injuries from a road accident. This marks the first time in eight years that the 27-year-old has not been retained.

3. Shreyas Iyer

The IPL 2024 champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, have made yet another surprising decision not to retain captain Shreyas Iyer. His leadership was instrumental in securing the team's third IPL title and achieving a remarkable record of 9 wins out of 14 matches last season.

Iyer was signed by the Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan owned franchise for ₹12.25 crore ahead of IPL 2022 and took on the captaincy in his debut season itself. Shreyas had to miss the entire 2023 season due to a back injury. However, in the last season, the 29-year-old scored 351 runs.

The reasons behind Iyer's non-retention remain unclear, but speculation suggests it may relate to negotiations over his salary demands or maybe health conditions. The right hand batter is also not part of the BCCI's central contract list.

4. KL Rahul

Another surprising name absent from the retention list is KL Rahul, the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants. However, this decision wasn't entirely shocking; fans must have already anticipated it given the tensions between owner Sanjiv Goenka and the captain, following LSG's humiliating 10-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad last season.

Goenka even took a jab at Rahul during the retention announcement, stating that LSG has retained players "who have a mindset to win and who put the team first before their personal goals and aspirations."

This marks the end of a three-year relationship between Rahul and Lucknow.

5. Glenn Maxwell

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru had high hopes for Australian batting star Glenn Maxwell, but he managed to score only 52 runs from 10 matches last season—far below expectations for a player who was the highest individual run-scorer in the 2023 Cricket World Cup with 201 runs.

It comes as no surprise that he has been released by the team. Maxwell was retained by RCB ahead of the IPL 2024 auction for a fee of ₹11 crore. Maxy is not the only high profile player released by RCB, also Faf du Plessis and Mohammed Siraj did not make it to retention list.

6.  Jos Buttler

The Rajasthan Royals star Jos Buttler has not been included in the retention list for IPL 2025. However, in a recent development following the retention day event, the England Test and limited-overs captain signed a two-year central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on October 31, joining Ben Stokes.

Interestingly, no England players have been retained by any of the ten teams in the Indian Premier League. Phil Salt, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow, and Jofra Archer are all set to enter the mega auction later in November.

7. Rachin Ravindra

Chennai Super Kings have released Rachin Ravindra, who made a strong impression early in the IPL 2024 season but struggled to maintain his form, finishing with 222 runs. The New Zealand all-rounder was acquired by CSK for ₹1.80 crore in the 2024 IPL auction.

Ravindra has recently been in the spotlight for his contributions to the national team, particularly following the Blackcaps' historic win over India in a recent Test match.

8. Arshdeep Singh

Punjab Kings, with an auction budget of ₹110.5 crore, have released Arshdeep Singh, allowing the star pacer to enter the Mega Auction. Last season, he bagged 19 wickets in 14 games and was retained for ₹4 crore. The lanky pacer has proven himself as a valuable asset in India's T20 World Cup 2024 victory picking 17 wickets.

9. Ishan Kishan

From the Mumbai Indians, Ishan Kishan and Tim David are among the players not retained for the IPL 2025 season. This decision isn't solely based on their performances; it also stems from league rules as all the teams can retain up to six players, but only five of those should be 'capped' international players (either from India or overseas). Read more about RTM HERE.

Nvertheless, Mumbai Indians have already retained five capped players--Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Tilak Varma. And now, they do not have the Right to Match (RTM) card available to retain Kishan.

10. Washinton Sundar

Washington Sundar's release from Sunrisers Hyderabad has come as a surprise. Retained for ₹8.75 crore last season, he only played in two matches and took one wicket. However, his value may have increased following a brilliant performance in India's recent home Test loss against New Zealand, where he claimed 11 wickets for just 115 runs in Pune, including a First-Class career-best of 7 for 59.

As he approaches the IPL 2025 auction, Sundar is likely to generate several interest, with teams like Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, and Gujarat Titans looking to secure his services.

From Gujarat Titans, Mohammed Siraj and David Miller have not been retained. While Shami's fitness is still uncertain, the reasons behind Miller's release remain unclear, despite him scoring 210 runs in nine matches last season. However, the South African batter has been included in the 15-member squad for the upcoming four-match T20I series against India.

The released players list features several surprising names, including Moeen Ali from CSK, Rahmanullah Gurbaz from KKR, and Quinton de Kock from LSG, among others. Here’s a look at the full list:

IPL 2025 - All Released Players From Retention List

Chennai Super Kings:

Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Richard Gleeson, Avanish Rao Aravelly, Devon Conway.

Delhi Capitals:

Rishabh Pant, Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Lalit Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Mitchell Marsh, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Gulbadin Naib, Rasikh Dar, Jhye Richardson, Sumit Kumar, Shai Hope, Swastik Chhikara, Lizaad Williams, Harry Brook, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Marsh.

Gujarat Titans:

David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath, Mohammed Shami, Robin Minz, Sushant Mishra.

Kolkaa Knight Riders:

Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Vaibhav Arora, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Allah Ghazanfar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Jason Roy, Gus Atkinson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Lucknow Super Giants:

KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, K. Gowtham, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Mark Wood, David Willey, Shivam Mavi.

Mumbai Indians:

Ishan Kishan, Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Harvik Desai, Vishnu Vinod, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Nehal Wadhera, Dewald Brevis, Shreyas Gopal, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Romario Shepherd, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Luke Wood, Jason Behrendorff, Dilshan Madushanka.

Punjab Kings:

Arshdeep Singh, Matthew Short, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.

Rajasthan Royals:

Jos Buttler, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Prasidh Krishna, Adam Zampa.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan

SunRisers Hyderabad:

Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Wanindu Hasaranga.

Total of 46 cricketers have been retained, leaving a massive pool of players available. Fans must expect a crazy bidding war for some of the biggest stars when the IPL franchises gather to finalise their respective squads at the mega auction, expected to be held in November in Riyadh. Read the full list of retained players here.