With the IPL auctions round the corner (on January 27 & 28 in Bangalore), there is a buzz around the event. The function will be attended by BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, and the owners of all the eight teams. The retention would be announced by the respective franchises from 5-7pm, with the proceedings to be broadcast from 7pm on Star Sports.

As expected, India skipper Virat Kohli (RCB) and his predecessor MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) are set to be retained by their franchises. However, the problem for RCB, who would ideally want to retain AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal too, is that if they retain all their top three players, the amount cut from the Rs 80 crore salary cap could be more than half of the available fund, leaving them with little money to spend.

Apart from Dhoni, CSK, who're returning to the IPL after a two-year ban post the spot-fixing scandal, are set to retain Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, who both played for the Gujarat Lions in the past two editions of the IPL.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians will stick with skipper Rohit Sharma and the Pandya brothers (Hardik and Krunal), while trying to hold on to Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard through Right-to-Match (RTM) cards. The idea behind retaining Krunal could be that being an uncapped Indian player, he can be retained for only Rs3 crore instead of Rs7 crore for third capped player.