IPL retention list has a few surprises: All you need to know

New Delhi: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and MS Dhoni were on Tuesday retained by their respective franchises -- Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, and Chennai Super Kings as BCCI unveiled the retention list ahead of the IPL mega auction.

KL Rahul, Rashid Khan and Hardik Pandya are among the big names that haven't been retained by their franchises.

The three players -- along with other released players -- will now be in the pool from which the two new IPL teams, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, will have up to three picks each (2 Indian, 1 foreign).

Among foreign players, Glenn Maxwell, Jos Buttler, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Anrich Nortje were retained. All-rounder Kieron Pollard made the cut for Mumbai Indians whereas Moeen Ali was chosen over the likes of Sam Curran, Faf du Plessis and Dwayne Bravo at Chennai Super Kings.

Mumbai Indians predictably also retained pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Chennai Super Kings, in turn, still have their crores riding on all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja; Ruturaj Gaikwad is the fourth name in the list. Moeen Ali has also been retained by CSK.

The major names to be released are out of form all-rounder Hardik Pandya and dashing keeper batter Ishan Kishan, who have been a part of Mumbai Indians core team, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Purple Cap winner Harshal Patel have been released by RCB.

Punjab Kings released their last year's skipper KL Rahul while retaining Mayank Agarwal and uncapped Arshdeep Singh. SRH retained captain Kane Williamson as their number one player and released star spinner Rashid Khan.

"If a player wants to be in the auction because of the price, we respect his decision. We will try and match him and see if we can pick him in the auction for the right price," said SRH CEO K Shanmugam told Star Sports on why they had to let go of Rashid.