KL Rahul offered top retention by LSG but star batter declines due to THIS reason

New Delhi: Despite his leadership experience and skill as a wicketkeeper-batter, KL Rahul, a prominent Indian player and former captain of the Lucknow Super Giants, is reportedly not included in the IPL 2025 retention list.

According to a *Times of India* report, KL Rahul was offered the top retention spot by Lucknow Super Giants but chose to move on for two reasons.

“LSG were ready to offer top retention bracket to Rahul, but Rahul eventually decided to move on due to personal and professional reasons,” a source told TOI.

“At the moment, there are four franchises who have expressed their interest in him – Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings. Expect all four to go hard for him in the auction,” a source told TOI.

Under the IPL retention guidelines announced for the mega auction, a team will incur a deduction of Rs 18 crore from their increased purse of Rs 120 crore for retaining their first player, Rs 14 crore for the second, and Rs 11 crore for the third. Additionally, each uncapped player retained will cost the team Rs 4 crore.

If a team retains five capped players, they will forfeit Rs 75 crore from their auction budget. The mega auction is expected to take place overseas in the last week of November, with the auction purse increasing to Rs 120 crore, up from the Rs 100 crore available at last year’s auction.

The total salary cap now includes an auction purse, incremental performance pay, and match fees. Notably, a match fee of Rs 7.5 lakh per game has been introduced for the upcoming season.

The teams can retain up to six players, via retention or right to match, from the existing squad, the highest in IPL history.