Harbhajan Singh names KKR's potential retentions ahead of deadline day, leaves out Harshit Rana

The deadline for the franchises to disclose their retention is fast approaching, and there have been a lot of discussions on the players each IPL (Indian Premier League) franchise will end up retaining. Significant attention has been on the champions of the IPL 2024 edition, team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who have quite a lot of players worthy of being preserved. 

Former India off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh, recently opened up on his preferences as far as the retentions are concerned. Apart from the usual five which are quite straightforward candidates for the franchise, Harbhajan opted for Ramandeep Singh over Harshit Rana as their uncapped retention.

“KKR dominated the entire season, so it will be difficult for them to leave or retain anyone. But it's a matter of retention, so you only have limited numbers that you can retain. If I want to see or if I have to choose my 6 players, which 6 players will be there for KKR? I think Shreyas Iyer will be there, Phil Salt will be there, Narine will be there, Andre Russell will be there, Rinku Singh will be there," said Harbhajan during a discussion with Star Sports.

"I will definitely want to see Rinku Singh. He should be the 5th player to be retained. And if we talk about one more player, who is the last player to be retained? It could be Ramandeep Singh. He is an uncapped player. I think he should be retained. He played very well last year and I have seen his performance in domestic cricket this year as well. So I think this 6th player, Knight Rider, will be retained,” he further added.

Also Read: Question remains whether Rohit Sharma will be retained: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan believes Pant should be retained by DC

Speaking on his picks from the Delhi Capitals (DC), he advocated for Rishabh Pant to be retained for the IPL 2025 season, amidst all the rumours floating around suggesting him to be not wanted as skipper of DC. Harbhajan's four other players for DC were Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Mitchell Marsh. He opined that he did not find any other player in the roster worth retaining other than the aforementioned crop.