Kings XI Punjab chose to retain just one player in Axar Patel, however, in a surprising decision, the franchise owners decided to not opt for David Miller who had been an integral part of the franchise and had recently hit the fastest T20I century, against Bangladesh. They still have an option to buy him back via the (RTM) card.

Kolkata Knight Rider spent Rs 21 crore in retaining two players and both are from West Indians. Off spinner Sunil Narine was the first choice while burly all-rounder Andre Russell was the second one. Surprisingly, captain Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn missed out.

While the retentions of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were no-brainers, Royal Challengers Bangalore surprised everyone with their third choice as youngster Sarfaraz Khan. Sarfaraz being uncapped will cost RCB just Rs 3 crore and the franchise owners would be looking to get Chris Gayle, Yuzvendra Chahal or Kedar Jadhav through the RTM card

Rajasthan Royals didn't have many options on the retention front and it wasn't a surprise that they retained just one. And it shouldn't have been much difficult to look beyond Steve Smith who has been in the form of his life.

Here's the list of the players retained by various teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant, Chris Morris

Rajasthan Royals: Steve Smith

Kings XI Punjab: Axar Patel

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah.