Virat Kohli headlines RCB’s retention list ahead of IPL 2025 Mega Auction

RCB have retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, which the franchise will walk into with a purse amount of INR 83 Crore.

Kohli (INR 21 Cr) and Patidar (INR 11 Cr) have been retained as capped players for a total sum of INR 32 Cr while Dayal, who is yet to make his India debut, falls in the uncapped bracket and will get INR 5 Cr.

While Kohli’s glistening credentials - he won the Orange Cap in IPL 2024 - and long-term association with RCB made him an automatic retention choice, Patidar’s terrific campaign last season, where he scored 395 runs from 15 matches at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 177.13 ensured he made the right noises.

Dayal played an instrumental role in fuelling RCB’s entry into the IPL 2024 playoffs as the left-arm seamer troubled the best of batters with an array of variations, and with 15 wickets from 14 games, finished as the team’s joint-highest wicket-taker from the season.

In Kohli, Patidar and Dayal, RCB have a solid Indian trio who could form the core of the local talent, and three ‘Right to Match’ cards in hand will present the think-tank an opportunity to re-sign some of the released players from the squad of ‘24.