Ahead of the mega auction for the upcoming IPL season, the existing franchises have on Tuesday finalized the players they are going to retain with them for the season. The move from each team had shocked and surprised the fans as they endured disappointments over releasing some of the crucial players. The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League has been tentatively scheduled between 27 March 2022 and 21 May 2022. 

The mega auction for the IPL 2022 has been inching closer for the upcoming season will introduce two new teams. The existing eight teams are preparing for a good market of the auction and as per the rule, the franchises are allowed to retain only four players ahead of the auction while the rest will be pooled for the trade. Let's take a look at the list of players who won retention for the upcoming season and their price, 

• Defending champions Chennai Super Kings - Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 16 crore), MS Dhoni (Rs 12 crore), Moeen Ali (Rs 8 crore), and Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 6 crore).
• Mumbai Indians - Rohit Sharma (Rs 16 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 12 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 8 crore), and Kieron Pollard (Rs 6 crore). 
• Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli (Rs 15 crore), Glenn Maxwell (Rs 11 crore), and Mohammed Siraj (Rs 7 crore). 
• Sunrisers Hyderabad - Kane Williamson (Rs 14 crore), Abdul Samad (Rs 4 crore), and Umran Malik (Rs 4 crore). 
• Punjab Kings - Mayank Agarwal (Rs 12 crore) and Arshdeep Singh (Rs 4 crore). 
• Rajasthan Royals - Sanju Samson (Rs 14 crore), Jos Buttler (Rs 10 crore), and Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 4 crore). 
• Delhi Capitals - Rishabh Pant (Rs 16 crore), Axar Patel (Rs 9 crore), Prithvi Shaw (Rs 7.5 crore), and Anrich Nortje (Rs 6.5 crore).
• Kolkata Knight Riders - Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 8 crore), Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 8 crore), and Sunil Narine (Rs 6 crore).  

The Chennai Super Kings had released some of the crucial players including Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, and Ambati Rayudu. While Mumbai Indians had released out of form all-rounder Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan, Royal Challengers Bangalore had decided to release leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Purple Cap winner Harshal Patel. 

The Sunrisers Hyderabad had retained its skipper Kane Williamson and released Afghan star, Rashid Khan while Punjab Kings had released their last year's captain KL Rahul and retained Mayank Agarwal. Glenn Maxwell, Jos Buttler, Sunil Narine, Anrich Nortje, Kieron Pollard, Moeen Ali, Kane Williamson, and Andre Russell were the overseas players who were retained by their respective franchises. 

According to reports, there are 27 retained players including eight foreign players. Each of the eight franchises used the Player Retention option with CSK, DC, KKR, and MI had opted to retain four players each while RR, RCB, and SRH had retained three players each. Punjab Kings had retained two. Ahmedabad and Lucknow will be the two new teams in the IPL 2022 and it is expected that the mega auction will take place in the first week of January. It has also been expected that the opening match of the IPL 2022 will be hosted by MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.