Just a few months ago, it was KKR who wowed everyone by winning their third IPL trophy in the 2024 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Now fans are already excited for the IPL 2025 season, scheduled to start in March and run into May. But before the matches begin, all the 10 IPL teams are busy preparing for the big IPL 2025 Mega Auction. The IPL auction is that time when a team could actually bring about changes in the squads. Essentially, there are two types of auctions: mini and mega. In a mini auction, teams can retain as many players as possible, while in a mega auction, they are allowed to retain only a few, with the remaining flowing into the auction pool. For the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, a team can retain a maximum of 4 players. Teams either go with 2 Indians and 2 overseas players, or 3 Indians and 1 overseas player. Let's have a look at which players might get released from each team before the auction. IPL 2025: Players Likely to Be Retained and Released by Every Team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Champions KKR have a tough retention call. They would have wanted to retain 8 players, but are likely to retain just 4. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Shreyas Iyer, Rinku Singh are likely to be retained. That could see them potentially letting go of the likes of Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, Varun Chakravarthy, and Harshit Rana. Players most likely to be Released by KKR: Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Phil Salt, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Allah Ghazanfar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Sunrisers Hyderabad had a decent season but lost in the final to KKR in IPL 2024. They might retain their power openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma along with Captain Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. This would result in releasing Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Players most likely to be Released by SRH: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed , Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan Also Read | Top 10 Lowest Team Scores in IPL History (2008-2024) Rajasthan Royals (RR) Rajasthan Royals lost against SRH in Qualifier 2 and failed to reach the final. They will likely retain the Captain Sanju Samson, star batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, and overseas players Jos Buttler and Trent Boult. In such a case, the team may let go of all-rounder Riyan Parag who performed exceptionally in the previous season of the Indian Premier League alongwith Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, and Sandeep Sharma. Players most likely to be Released by RR: Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) RCB made it to the playoffs this season after much hustle, so they might retain Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Mohammed Siraj while Faf du Plessis could be the overseas retention. The ones who might be released are Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell, Manoj Bhandage, and Yash Dayal. Players most likely to be released by RCB: Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan Chennai Super Kings (CSK) The five time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings failed to make into the playoffs after their loss against RCB. CSK is likely to retain Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Mustafizur Rahman, and MS Dhoni (not confirmed). This will lead to the release of Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, and Deepak Chahar. Players most likely to be released by CSK: Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, 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, Richard Gleeson, Avanish Rao Aravelly Delhi Capitals (DC) Delhi Capitals didn't go into the playoffs due to their negative net run rate in last IPL. However, the team performed well winning 7 out of 14 matches where they scored huge totals and also bowled out the opponents at low scores. Skipper Rishabh Pant, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, and Jake Fraser-McGurk, the player who scored the fastest fifty in IPL for DC not once, but twice in the last season are most likely to be retained by the franchise. In that case, they can let go of Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, and David Warner. Players most likely to be released by DC: Pravin Dubey, David Warner, Vicky Ostwal, Prithvi Shaw, Anrich Nortje, Abishek Porel, Axar Patel, 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 Also Read | Top 5 Most Expensive Uncapped Indian Players in IPL History Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) There were speculations regarding KL Rahul's exit, but according to confirmation from the team owner, he will stay with the LSG franchise for the upcoming season of IPL. Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ayush Badoni may be retained. Some big names which could be released are Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Mayank Yadav. Players most likely to be released by LSG: 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, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Mohd. Arshad Khan Gujarat Titans (GT) Gujarat Titans failed to make it to the playoffs under their new captain, Shubman Gill in IPL 2024. They may retain Shubman Gill along with Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharshan and Abhinav Manohar. That will see them releasing Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar and Shahrukh Khan. Players most likely to be released by GT: David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath Punjab Kings (PBKS) After Shikhar Dhawan's retirement, Punjab Kings may retain Arshdeep Singh, Shashank Singh, Ashutosh Sharma, and a possible overseas retention of Kagiso Rabada. They may release Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Harshal Patel and Rahul Chahar. The franchise will look for a new captain in the upcoming mega auction. Players most likely to be released by PBKS: Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh, 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, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw Mumbai Indians (MI) The five-time winner , Mumbai Indians were the last team on the points table in IPL 2024. According to the reports, Rohit Sharma is expected to be released following his own decision. There were speculation about Suryakumar Yadav and Jaspirt Bumrah leaving the franchise ahead of the auction. The speculations were later ruled out by an MI insider, meaning both the star players will continue to play for MI. They could retain Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Dewald Brevis. In that process, the likes of Tim David, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera and Ishan Kishan, Gerald Coetzee, and Akash Madhwal can be released. Players most likely to be released by MI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera Tim David, Harvik Desai, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Kwena Maphaka These are the possible moves that the franchises could make ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. It will be quite exciting to see which of those players stay and who will be released. Also Read | Top 5 Fights in IPL Cricket History that Created Headlines