IPL franchises have released their retention lists ahead of the upcoming mega auction. Rajasthan Royals showed confidence in their 6 star players and retained them and spent Rs 79 crore. The team will now enter the auction with a purse of Rs 41 crore. Rajasthan has retained captain Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rs 18 crore each.

Dhruv Jurel and Ryan Parag were retained for Rs 14 crore each, Shimron Hetmyer for Rs 11 crore and Sandeep Sharma for Rs 4 crore. The franchise has not retained opener Jos Buttler and spinners Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, due to which the fans are quite surprised. Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid has given a big statement regarding this.

We are very sad that we could not retain him – Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid says that the decisions taken were not easy and captain Sanju Samson has played a big role. He said that Sanju had built good relations with everyone in the last 5-6 years. However, the decision has been taken keeping in mind the dynamics and the pros and cons of each step.

According to Hindustan Times, Rahul Dravid said,

Sanju had a big role in these retentions. He also had to face many difficulties. As a captain, he has built very good relations with these players. We are very sad for the players we could not retain, and Sanju has worked with these players for 5-6 years.

They have balance considerations on these retentions. He has taken the trouble to understand its dynamics, its advantages and disadvantages. They have discussed this with us a lot, and it was not an easy decision. We had a lot of debates, but in the end, we are happy with our team and we wanted to retain as many players as possible.