The IPL has had multiple mega auctions in the past couple of years, and teams have strategized by holding on to their core personnel. From 2011 to 2022, every franchise has gotten a chance to hold on to its top performers before the auctions shape the dynamics of the league. This article has close looks at the players retained by each of these IPL teams during the course of these mega auctions, a glimpse into what kind of decisions are making such history-making events with the tournament. Chennai Super Kings Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: MS Dhoni, Suresh Rains, Murali Vijay, and Albie Morkel In the 2011 year, it was very tough for CSK to retain players because they were the champions of the 2010 season. But at the end, they retained skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, and Abie Morkel. Basically, they maintained their core and built new teams around this core. 2014 Retentions: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja Ravi Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo This was the second mega auction in the history of IPL, and CSK retained their solid Indian core, in which they retained their skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, and Dwayne Bravo. At the end, they went into the action with a purse balance of 21 crores; at the end, they made a strong team in 2014 as well. 2018 Retentions: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ravindra Jadeja In the year 2018, CSK was making the comeback in the IPL after two years, and they retained their match winners in the form of their skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Ravindra Jadeja. In the auction they played really well and created a solid team and won the IPL 2018 with dominance. 2022 Retentions: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad After winning the IPL 2021, CSK was forced to release their star players because of the mega auction. At the end, they retained MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad before the auction. Also Read | Types of Ducks in Cricket | From Golden to Diamond Mumbai Indians Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, and Lasith Malinga In 2011, Mumbai Indian retained their solid core, in which they went for their premier batters, Sachin Tendulkar, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, and Lasith Malinga. In the auction, they picked Rohit Sharma. In this season, the Mumbai Indians performed really well, and they played the final but could not win the final. 2014 Retentions: Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Ambati Rayudu In the 2014 auction, it was tough for MI because they won the 2013 season, and for any champion team, it is always tough to build a team again. But they played smartly and retained their main core. Their performance was quite average in the 2014 season, as they won only 7 matches out of 14. 2018 Retention: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah In the 2018 mega auction, for the very first time, five retentions were allowed. Also, up to three direct retentions or three RTM cards are allowed with a maximum of three Indian players on the team. So Mumbai Indians retained Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah. 2022 Retentions: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard At the 2022 IPL auction, each of the eight franchises was allowed to retain up to four IPL players. Thus, skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard were retained by the Mumbai Indians. Along with retaining these players, the MI also added 21 more players at the IPL auction. The list includes Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi, M Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, and Jofra Archer. Kolkata Knight Riders Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: No Retention For the 2011 season, Kolkata Knight Riders did not retain any players, and they created the whole new team as they picked Gautam Gambhir and made him the skipper of the team. 2014 Retentions: Gautam Gambhir and Sunil Narine In the 2014 auction, KKR retained Gautam Gambhir and West Indies spinner Sunil Narine. The team purchased former South African Test cricketer Jacques Kallis for Rs 5,50,00,000 and prolific hitter Yusuf Pathan for Rs 3,25,00,000, employing the right to match card. KKR filled their squad with big Indian players such as Robin Uthappa, Umesh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, and Karnataka pacer Vinay Kumar. 2018 Retention: Sunil Narine and Andre Russell For the 2018 season, KKR only retained their star allrounders Sunil Narine and Andre Russell and built an entire new team. They performed well in the IPL 2018 as they made it into the play-off. 2022 Retention: André Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer For the IPL 2022, Kolkata Knight Riders retained four players: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer. In the auction, they picked up some big names like Shreyas Iyer and Pat Cummins and made a solid team. Rajasthan Royals Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retention: Shane Warne and Shane Watson Before the IPL 2011, Rajasthan Royals only retained two players, Shane Watson and their skipper Shane Warne. In the season, they finished in the sixth position in the points table. 2014 Retentions: Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, and Stuart Binny Rajasthan Royals retained five players for the IPL 2014: Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, and Stuart Binny. All five names were expected to be retained by the Royals because they wanted to maintain the core of the team that had performed well in 2012. 2018 Retention: Steve Smith For the IPL 2018, Rajasthan Royals only retained the start Australian batter Steve Smith, but he could not get into the IPL because of the ball tampering. In the auction, they brought Sanju Samson back into the team. 2022 Retentions: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, and Yashasvi Jaiswal For the IPL 2022, Rajasthan Royals retained their strong batting core, in which they retained Sanju Samson as their skipper, Jos Buttler, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Delhi Capitals Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: Virender Sehwag For the IPL 2011, Delhi Capitals retained just one player, Star Indian opener Virender Sehwag, at 1.8 million. In this season, the performance of DC was very disappointing, as they finished at number 10th in the points table. 2014 Retention: No Retained Player For the IPL 2014, DC did not retain any players. Dinesh Karthik is probably the most expensive signing made by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) during the 2014 IPL auction, though to some, he might even rank as the worst signing of the season. 2018 Retentions: Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and Chris Morris After a disappointing season in 2017, the Delhi Capitals decided to let go of most of their players and just retained the star performer from the 2017 season. Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and Chris Morris were the three retained players. 2022 Retentions: Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, and Anrich Nortje For the IPL 2022, DC maintained their core by retaining their star performer from the last season. They retained Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, and Anrich Nortje; later, they picked big players like David Warner, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Marsh, Mustafizur Rahman, and Kuldeep Yadav from the auction. Punjab Kings Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: No Retentions In this season, Punjab Kings did not have any players in order to create an entire new team; in the auction, they brought Australian legend Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh. 2014 Retention: Manan Vohra For the IPL 2014, PBKS shocked everyone when they retained uncapped Manan Vohra and let the other players go into the auction. 2018 Retention: Axar Patel For the IPL 2018, the Punjab Kings only retained all-rounder Axar Patel and let the entire team jump into the auction. Later, they picked star players like KL Rahul and Ravi Ashwin. 2022 Retentions: Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh They retained just two players, Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, for the IPL 2022 and built a new team. In the IPL 2022, their performance was decent, but they could not make it into the top four. Also Read | Understanding the Follow-On Rule in Test Cricket Royal Challengers Bengaluru Image Source: ESPN 2011 Retentions: Virat Kohli RCB only retained Virat Kohli for the IPL 2011 and wanted to create an entire new team; later in the auction, they brought star players like Tillakaratne Dilshan, Zaheer Khan, and AB de Villiers. 2014 Retention: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle For the IPL 2014, RCB retained their batting core by retaining Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle. In that season, RCB could not perform well, as they finished at number five in the points table. 2018 Retentions: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Sarfraz Khan Season 2017 was very ordinary for RCB, so they decided to make a new team. Before the auction, they retained Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Young Sarfraz Khan. In 2018, RCB disappointed his fans with their performance. 2022 Retentions: Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Siraj For the IPL 2022, RCB retained Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Mohammed Siraj before the auction, and in the auction they brought players like Faf Du Plessis. Sunrisers Hyderabad Image Source: ESPN 2014 Retentions: Shikhar Dhawan and Dale Steyn They were the newcomers in the league in 2013, and they performed really well as they won 10 matches out of their 16 matches. They released their main players and just retained Shikhar Dhawan and Dale Steyn, and in the auction they played players like David Warner in the team. 2018 Retentions: David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar For the IPL 2018, they retained their skipper David Warner and star bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar before the auction. Later, David Warner was out of the IPL, and Kane Williamson took them into the finals. 2022 Retentions: Kane Williamson, Umran Malik, and Abdul Samad For the IPL 2022, SRH retained Kane Williamson alongside two young players, Umran Malik and Abdul Samad. The 2022 season was horrible for SRH, as they finished in 8th place on the points table. Lucknow Supergiants Image Source: ESPN 2022 Drafts: Kl Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi In the IPL 2022, LSG was introduced for the first time, and they had the option to draft the player. They went for India batter Kl Rahul, Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi. In their first season, they performed really well and made it into the playoffs. Gujarat Titans Image Source: ESPN 2022 Drafts: Shubman Gill, Rashidh Khan, and Hardik Pandya Gujarat Titans was another franchise that was introduced for the first time in the IPL, so they drafted Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, and Hardik Pandya before the auction. In their first season, they emerged as the winners of the IPL under the leadership of Hardik Pandya.