Shubman Gill accepts pay cut to retain Gujarat Titans' team core

Sta India batter and Gujarat Titans' Captain Shubman Gill has resolved to cut down his current paycheck to become the second player retention for the renowned Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. Ahead of the mega auctions to be conducted for the IPL 2025 edition, Gill stepped back from becoming the top retention of GT.

Amid several speculations doing the rounds, the last deadline for the retentions given to all the teams is October 31. Hence gradually, teams have started opening their cards and displaying their wise moves. Notably, the Fazilika-born led Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2024 season. As things stand, the GT management along with their skipper have pushed for keeping the core players of the team intact.

The talismanic Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan will be the first retention for the Gujarat-based franchise. While the young Sai Sudharsan and uncapped marked players Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia are most likely to be the other retained players. Besides, the Right to Match card will also come into play and Titans will aim to keep it intact for the IPL mega auctions, which are expected to take place in November 2024.

Also Read - IPL 2025 Retention & Auction Possibilities: Which players might be retained or released?

"Gill has decided to take a pay cut to ensure the core players are retained and build a stronger team," an IPL source said as per India Today.

Gujarat Titans roped in Gill from KKR in 2022

The Gujarat franchise bought Shubman Gill for a hefty 8 crore price tag back in 2022. Currently, if the reports are to be believed, Rashid will break the bank balance with GT to eventually become their costliest retained star player. However, it was still unclear how much deduction in the paycheck Gill was ready to take and is still in the process.

Considering the new IPL rules and retention terms, an IPL franchise will take a hit of INR 18 crore from the allotted 120 crore for the first player while the second player retained will get INR 14 crore. When it comes to the third player, the IPL franchise will have to spend INR 11 crore. Additionally, for uncapped players,  teams have been given a budget of INR four crore per player.

Also Read- Reports: Gujarat Titans set to retain Gill and Rashid for IPL 2025, Shami overlooked

Furthermore, should an IPL franchise decide to retain their top five players, they are most likely to incur a loss of INR 75 crore from the auction pool. For the unversed, last year the total purse allotted was 100 crore, which has been increased by 20 crore for the next season by the governing council of the tournament. Besides, some additional costs have been introduced viz- performance-based increment for players and a minimum per match fees were capped at INR 7.5 lakhs for the players as well. In totality, all the IPL teams have been allowed to have six retentions including the RTM card.

Speaking of Shubman Gill's experience, the dashing batter has featured in 125 matches in the grand IPL. During these games,  he scored 3,216 runs while averaging 37.83. He also maintained a strike rate of 129 with four centuries and 20 fifties to his name, respectively.