New Delhi, Oct 31 : Captains Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer headline the list of big-ticket names heading to the IPL 2025 mega auction after not being retained by their respective franchises.

October 31 was the deadline for all ten franchises to submit their lists of retained players. There had been a lot of chatter about the future of many players with their franchises, and the retention deadline just affirmed that, thus setting the stage for a blockbuster mega auction.

With Delhi Capitals retaining Axar Patel (Rs 16.50 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (Rs 10 crore), Abishek Porel (Rs 4 crore), the development marks the possible end of the franchise's nine-year long association with Pant, who has been with them since 2016.

With DC, Pant went from being a talented wicketkeeper-batter to being their mainstay with the bat and eventually took the leadership role at the franchise. Brand DC got a big boost too in terms of having the local connect, thanks to Roorkee lad Pant being based in Delhi to hone his cricket skills at the renowned Sonnet Club.

It is believed that Pant and DC owners have been in long chats for the last few months about finding a path to make him stay at the franchise. It also included a meeting last evening, and a last-ditch effort on Thursday morning, but it went in vain.

With Pant at the mega auction, he is expected to get big bucks - with social media even talking of him getting Rs 30 crore in the auction - as many teams are eyeing a player like him with previous leadership experience.

Other prominent DC players who have been let go are David Warner, Anrich Nortje, Prithvi Shaw, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, their IPL 2024 breakout star Jake Fraser-McGurk and Rasikh Dar.

Just like DC, LSG also let go of Rahul, something which IANS had reported on October 17. With Rahul entering the mega auction, it marks the end of his three-year association with them. Very much like Pant, Rahul will be in high demand at the mega auction for previous leadership experience.

In place of him, LSG have opted to retain Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore) and Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), followed by uncapped duo of Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 crore) and pacer Mohsin Khan (Rs 4 crore). Other big people LSG have let go of are Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, and Deepak Hooda.

Meanwhile, Iyer entering the auction after being let go of by KKR will mark the first instance ever of a title-winning captain from the most recent IPL edition not being retained by his team. Other players KKR have let go of are Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, and Nitish Rana.

Iyer, the right-handed batter was with KKR for three seasons since 2022, but with other people like Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh being retained, it means he enters the mega auction yet again.

Other big releases include five-time winners Chennai Super Kings not retaining Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, and Tushar Deshpande, while IPL 2022 winners Gujarat Titans have let go of Mohammed Shami, and David Miller.

IPL 2008 winners Rajasthan Royals have not retained Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, and Ravichandran Ashwin, while 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad have let go of Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, Mayank Agarwal, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Punjab Kings have gone for an overhaul yet again, with Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone being released. Five-time winners Mumbai Indians have not retained Ishan Kishan, and Tim David, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru have let go of Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Faf du Plessis, and Cameron Green.

/IANS