With only a week to go for the retention deadline of the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction, interest and speculation are building around who will be retained by his team. Of course, this narrative reeks of imagination, exaggerations, careful leaks, and some fiction. There are three big names that form the heart of the discussions, and they are Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer. The matter for each player is complicated, and franchises are extremely cautious about their choices, usually because of narratives which might not be entirely truthful. Rishabh Pant's Uncertain Future The future of Rishabh Pant in the Delhi Capitals is still open. Conventional sports media is abuzz with discussions between the player and the two co-owners of Delhi Capitals, GMR Group and JSW Group. Pipping the custard with Pant's post on October 12, where he asked, "If I go to the auction, will I be sold or not and for how much?", Pant was stirring the pot in many more ways than one. The post was more about the level of interest his team owners had in him than mere self-rating. The post took the management by surprise, showing that Pant was testing the waters and hinting at his feelings for the franchise. While he has put his owners in a tricky spot, the reality is that they have options. They can use the Right to Match (RTM) card to keep him, even if his price goes high during the auction. Also Read | IPL 2025: Top 5 Overseas Stars IPL Teams Can’t Afford to Lose Reports indicate that both GMR and JSW are interested in retaining Pant unless things get out of hand. They view the social media rant as a disposition of an immature player, and they hope to get past that. In his meetings with the owners, Pant made several requests regarding the coaching staff and the composition of the team. He wanted a star former Indian player for the state as a mentor or head coach, but the GMR Group had already chose Y Venugopal Rao and Hemang Badani for its coaching team. It's trying to distance itself from high-profile coaching names, thereby raising questions regarding whether Rao and Badani can match the influence that Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting had. The present management is also sceptical whether Pant's suggested coach would fit their vision. There could have also been deliberations on the retention amount for Pant, and opinions have been divided on his performances in red-ball cricket and white-ball cricket. These issues were apparently taken up in meetings, which the management claimed have blown the situation out of proportion by media speculation. KL Rahul's Expected Exit With Lucknow Super Giants, KL Rahul's case appears to be a pretty open-and-shut affair. The general sense is that the franchise's going to let him walk. Now, the different think tanks in LSG, including mentor Zaheer Khan and head coach Justin Langer, have issues with his batting, particularly his strike rate, plus where he would bat in the order and his potential to lead the side. Rahul has indicated that he wishes to bat in the middle order - a wish he had expressed last year as well but wasn't carried through as he did not agree with the team he wanted to have. He is not in good form and being separated from him will do both parties a world of good. This will retain a unit like Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav and Mohsin Khan while Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan being the uncapped retentions. While LSG could always look up to the RTM option for Rahul, it seems unlikely that they will. They might use it instead to keep players like Marcus Stoinis. Also Read | Most Unsuccessful Teams in the History of IPL Shreyas Iyer's Dilemma Shreyas Iyer's case with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is little different. The management wishes to retain Iyer, who took them to the championship, but they are debating whether he should be one among the five high-performing capped players they can retain. They also have some of the big players in the ranks - Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Phil Salt, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer - that only make their choices tougher because they can retain only five capped players. At a meeting with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in July, KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan had proposed a system that would entail only RTMs and no retentions. Venky Mysore is now contemplating which players to RTM and which ones to retain-as the very experienced member of KKR management known for handling all issues that involve players.