Though everyone knows RCB will retain Virat Kohli as their first retention ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, Kohli’s price tag raises concern over the franchise’s impartiality.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained Virat Kohli for INR 21 cr which is three crore above the BCCI’s set price for the first retention. Right after the official announcement event one gets confused regarding the price at which Virat Kohli was retained.
Earlier BCCI announced the retention rules in which the board has set various retention slabs for the players.
The first retention must be INR 18 crore, the second INR 14 crore, the third INR 11 crore, the fourth INR 18 crore, the fifth INR 14 crore and the uncapped Rs 4 crore but franchises are also allowed to divide the 75cr retention amount among 5 capped players.
If a team choose to retain a player for more than INR 18 Cr then the franchise should retain their second or third player for less than the desired amount. Teams can flex the retention amount as they wish but should be within the designated amount of INR 43 Crore(18+14+11) for three retentions. In that too, the first two retentions have to split the INR 32 crores anyway.
As far as RCB is concerned, the Bengaluru-based franchise decided to retain just three of its players ahead of the auction which includes two capped and one uncapped player.
Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar are the two capped players while RCB retained Yash Dayal under the uncapped category.
As RCB had to split the INR 32 crores between Virat and Rajat Patidar, the franchise decided to pay the highest amount for their star batter.
As per the rules, Virat can be retained for INR 18 crore while Rajat Patidar can be retained for INR 14 cr which will make the sum of INR 32 cr.
But the franchise has decided to do a favour for Virat by allocating him INR 21 crore and negotiated with Patidar to be retained for INR 11 Crore. Notably, Rajat Patidar earned only INR 20 lakh in IPL 2024.
RCB might take this decision considering the value of Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli scored 741 runs last season which is far higher than Patidar’s 365.
Stats of Virat and Patidar in the last season:
- Virat Kohli | Runs – 741; Wickets – 00
- Rajat Patidar | Runs – 365; Wickets – 00
RCB Retained Players 2025
| R. No | Player | Price |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | INR 21 Cr |
| 2 | Rajat Patidar | INR 11 Cr |
| 3 | Yash Dayal | INR 5 Cr |
CHECK: IPL 2025 Retained Players List – All 10 Teams Latest News
