Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made the headlines in the 2018 IPL retention event in Mumbai on Thursday. Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to two trophies, was, to the surprise of many, absent from the franchise's retention list, while Dhoni was brought back by Chennai Super Kings for the upcoming season. Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja were the other two players retained by the Chennai team.
CSK, who have twice won the IPL trophy under Dhoni, are returning to the league after a two-year suspension and look to the trio to bring glory back to the franchise. Rajasthan Royals, winners of the inaugural edition and another team returning this season from a ban of two years, meanwhile decided to go for Australia captain Steven Smith, their only pick at the event.
The teams could retain three players, and only CSK, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians went the whole hog, which means now they will have only two right-to-match cards at the full-scale auction, which is to be held later this month on January 27 and 28. The rest of the teams will have three right-to-match options at the grand auction. Here is the complete list of all players retained by eight franchises on Thursday along with their price.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (INR 12 crore) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (INR 8.5 crore)
Delhi Daredevils: Rishabh Pant (INR 8 crore), Chris Morris (INR 7.1 crore), Shreyas Iyer (INR 7 crore )
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni ((INR 15 crore), Suresh Raina (INR 11 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 7 crore)
Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith (INR 12 crore)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine (INR 8.5 crore), Andre Russell (INR 7 crore)
Kings XI Punjab: Axar Patel (INR 6.75 crore)
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (INR 15 crore), Hardik Pandya (INR 11 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (INR 7 crore)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (INR 17 crore), AB de Villers (INR 11 crore), Sarfaraz Khan (INR 1.75 crore)
