The Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals retained the maximum five players for IPL 7 before the 5 pm deadline on Friday.
CSK, one of the most successful and controversy-ridden teams in the IPL, expectedly kept hold of five of their premier players - skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo.
"The Chennai Super Kings have retained MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo going into the IPL 2014 auction," the IPL franchise said in a statement on their official website. "This year the championship rules allow for five players to be retained, of whom only four can be capped India players.
"One of the primary reasons for the success of the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL since inception has been their strong focus on the nucleus of the side and here the team management have ensured that the core of the team remains undisturbed. In keeping with this successful plan, this time too the team management have opted to keep their core team intact."
Three seasons ago, CSK had retained India opener Murali Vijay and South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, but the duo missed out this time around, along with Michael Hussey - although it is unclear whether the Australian intends to take part this season.
Each IPL team can retain up to five players, with a fixed amount deducted from the franchise's purse if they do so. CSK will only have 21 crore to spend in the auction, with player one costing Rs 12.5 crore, player two and player three costing Rs 9.5 crore and Rs 7.5 crore, with player four and player five coming at Rs 5.5 crore and Rs 4 crore.
The same goes for the Royals as well, with the Rajasthan-based IPL side, also not too surprisingly, deciding to retain Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, James Faulkner and Stuart Binny, according to ESPN Cricinfo.
Samson had a breakout season in the IPL last year, and is expected to go on and don India colours in the future. Binny was instrumental for the Royals in quite a few games, and might make his debut for India after being selected for the New Zealand series.
James Faulkner was one of the best bowlers of IPL 6, and can also bat, while Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane have been pivotal to the team's success over the past several years.
The Mumbai Indians retained five players as well, while RCB decided to go with just three.
[Full list of retained players HERE]
