Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed that skipper Sanju Samson played a crucial role in shaping the franchise’s final list of retained players ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. RR retained both Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal at a substantial price of ₹18 crore each.
They also kept young talents Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag at ₹14 crore each, while acquiring Shimron Hetmyer for ₹11 crore. Additionally, RR utilized all their retention options by signing Sandeep Sharma for ₹4 crore as part of the Uncapped Player category.
Despite these six retentions, RR had to part ways with several key players, including Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, and Jos Buttler. After RR announced their retention list, Dravid spoke to the media and was quoted by Hindustan Times saying:
“Sanju had a big role to play in these retentions. He faced a lot of difficulty, too. As a captain, he has build a lot of relationships with these players. We are very sad for the players we couldn’t retain, and Sanju has worked with these players for 5-6 years now.”
“He has had balanced views on these retentions. He has taken the trouble to understand the dynamics of it, charting out the pros and cons. He has discussed a lot with us on this, and it wasn’t an easy decision.”
”We had a lot of debates, but in the end, we are happy with the team that we have and we wanted to retain as many as possible,” he added.
Under Samson’s leadership, RR has been one of the most consistent teams in the last three IPL seasons, finishing as runners-up in 2022 and securing third place in 2024.
RR released their top three wicket-takers from IPL 2024
It’s uncommon for a franchise to release their top three wicket-takers from the previous season, but RR did just that ahead of the 2025 IPL auction. In a move focused on batting, RR let go of Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Trent Boult, who took 19, 18, and 16 wickets, respectively, in IPL 2024, leading the team’s bowling attack.
They also parted ways with arguably their best all-rounder, Ravichandran Ashwin, who took nine wickets and averaged over 14 with the bat last season. Additionally, RR chose not to retain Jos Buttler, a key player for the franchise since 2018.
Buttler was their fourth-highest run-scorer in IPL 2024, amassing 359 runs at an average of nearly 40 and a strike rate of 140.78.
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