New Delhi: Aakash Chopra, former India cricketer, might not have much hope from the valuation of Riyan Parag ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction, but he believes no player, including Riyan Parag, will be able to reach his retention value at around Rs 18 crores. With this kind of big names in contention, Chopra believes Parag might not be the top three retentions for Rajasthan Royals. Chopra does agree that the franchise wants to hold onto young talent, but maybe it is not possible.
The Rajasthan Royals qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs, where they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 after edging past Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator. While Riyan Parag was Rajasthan’s highest run-getter, Aakash Chopra reckons that he might not feature in the top three retentions for the side.
Riyan Parag aggregated 573 runs off 14 matches with an average of 52 in IPL 2024. Two months later, he had made himself eligible for a spot in the Indian team, but as Aakash Chopra maintains, it is Rajasthan Royals that will retain skipper Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Jos Buttler as their top three retentions.
“Their top three retentions should be Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal. You can decide one, two and three, it doesn’t make a difference, because whether you leave out Yashasvi, Sanju or Jos Buttler, they will go for 14 to 15 crores,” Chopra said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“All three are batters, which includes two Indians. Your top three is set. You need to retain these three. After that, you will have slight problems. You will wish a lot to retain Riyan Parag. However, I won’t agree with Riyan Parag for 18 crores,” Chopra said.
Aakash Chopra suggested that the Rajasthan Royals could retain Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler for Rs 18 crores each, Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rs 14 crores, and Riyan Parag for Rs 11 crores. He also indicated that the franchise might opt to keep Sandeep Sharma as the uncapped player while utilizing the Right to Match (RTM) cards to retain both Riyan and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Sandeep Sharma is an uncapped Indian. You can keep him with you for four crores. Then you will be left with two Right To Match cards. You can use one for Riyan Parag and the second for Yuzi Chahal,” Chopra said.
However, this strategy would mean that wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel would likely be left out, and Aakash Chopra suggested that the Rajasthan Royals would need to release him before attempting to reacquire him during the auction.
“You will then hope that you somehow get Dhruv Jurel as well because I feel Dhruv Jurel has a great future in this team. He is a gun player. We haven’t yet seen the best of Jurel because he doesn’t get to bat. He gets to bat very low in the batting order but he is a player you want to invest in,” Chopra said.
