South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen edged cricket superstar Virat Kohli to become the most expensive player retained in the IPL on Thursday.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad re-signed the hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman for $2.73-million (R48.2-million) alongside captain Australians Pat Cummins and Travis Head.

The 33-year-old Klaasen amassed 479 runs including four half-centuries at a strike rate of over 171 in this year’s IPL as Hyderabad ended runners-up.

Klaasen surpassed the previous $2.02-million paid by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to Kohli in 2017.

Kohli kept up his bond with Bengaluru for $2.5-million in the lucrative T20 tournament as the retention deadline ended on Thursday at 5pm India time.

Top Indian players including Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul have parted ways with their franchises to head into the mega auction, which is expected to be held next month.

Australia’s Mitchell Starc holds the auction record after Kolkata brought him for $2.98-million in December last year.

Pant left the Delhi Capitals after he led the team in this year’s IPL following his return to competitive cricket from a serious car crash in December 2022.

Rahul was not among the list of players retained by the Lucknow Super Giants, who kept the West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran for $2.5-million.

Other top players on the auction table will be England’s Jos Buttler, who was not retained by the Rajasthan Royals, and South African Faf du Plessis, out of Bengaluru.

Defending champions the Kolkata Knight Riders released their skipper Shreyas Iyer but held onto the West Indies duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.

Five-time winners Chennai extended their association with 43-year-old MS Dhoni, who comes in as an uncapped player after he retired from international cricket in 2020.

Five-time champions the Mumbai Indians retained their top names including captain Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: BCCI