IPL 2025 Retention: Who Became Most Expensive Player Overtaking Virat Kohli?

On the IPL 2025 Retention Day, the teams released the lists of players that they would like to keep in their roster ahead of the upcoming season. Several players, especially the overseas cricketers, have gone for the top spots, which will get them a minimum of ₹18 crore.

However, the player that seems to be the biggest winner in the IPL 2025 Retention Day is South African batter Heinrich Klaasen, who has been retained by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a huge sum of ₹23 crore.

The IPL franchises have an increased transfer purse at their disposal in this year’s mega auction, which has allowed them to break the bank while planning their retention lists.

While the first retention pick is supposed to get ₹18 crore, that figure can be increased by the retaining team if they can manage to convince one or more of the rest of the retained players to take a pay cut. However, if the SRH are indeed supposed to pay Klaasen ₹23 crore, which is ₹5 crore more than the minimum allotted amount, they will have to take that sum out of the rest of their retentions.

SRH’s retention of the South African was to be expected, as he was on top form last season. He finished the season with a career-high record of 479 runs, with a strike rate of more than 170 and four half-centuries.

IPL 2025 Retention: Heinrich Klaasen Breaks Virat Kohli’s Record as Most Expensive Retention

The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s decision to go big on Heinrich Klaasen has broken the erstwhile record held by Virat Kohli as the most expensive retention in IPL’s history. The superstar was made the priciest retention in 2017, when the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) kept him in the squad for ₹17 crore.

With the minimum remuneration for the first pick this year being ₹18 crore, Kohli’s record was inevitably going to be broken. The Indian batter fetched ₹21 crore, narrowly missing out on being the most expensive retention in the history of IPL for a second time by a narrow margin. That record will now be held by Klaasen, whose price tag of ₹23 crore would be the one to beat in the next mega auction for the 2028 edition.

IPL 2025 Retention: Virat Kohli Becomes Most Expensive Indian Retention

Even though Kohli failed to dislodge Klaasen in terms of price tag, his cost of ₹21 crore made him the most expensive Indian retention for the upcoming season.

He overtook players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Sanju Samson, who fetched in ₹18 crore for their respective teams.