In a much-expected reunion, Chennai Super Kings have retained its former skipper and ex-India captain MS Dhoni for Rs 15 crore, ahead of its return to the Indian Premier League in 2018.
India skipper Virat Kohli has incidentally become the most expensive player to be retained in this exercise. The retention will cost Royal Challengers Bangalore a sum of Rs 17 crore which exceeds the 15 crore salary cap.
The other two players retained by CSK are talismanic southpaw Suresh Raina and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
South African sensation AB de Villiers will remain with RCB for a price of Rs 11 crore.
David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been retained by their former team Sunrisers Hyderabad.
This, after the IPL governing council on December 6, had paved the way for suspended franchises to retain five of their players through the Right to Match (RTM) clause.
This allowed the returning franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, to retain or use the RTM clause to secure the players who played for them respectively in IPL 2015 and who were part of Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions squads in IPL 2017.
An IPL franchise is eligible to secure up to five players by virtue of a combination of player retention (pre player auction) and Right to Match (during the auction), BCCI secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said in a statement.
The decision was taken during the IPL Governing Council's meeting with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on December 6 in Mumbai.
The IPL Governing Council had allowed a maximum of either three retentions or three Right To Match (RTM) at the discretion of the franchises. If there is no retention before player auction, then the franchises can have up to three RTM.
A franchise can secure a maximum of three capped Indian players and a maximum of two overseas players. A franchise can secure a maximum of two uncapped Indian players.
Meanwhile, the salary cap for teams for the 2018 edition is Rs. 80 crore. It will grow by Rs 2 crore and Rs 3 crore for the next two editions respectively.
"The minimum spend will be 75 per cent of the salary cap for each season," the statement read.