The suspense regarding players’ retention is over before the mega auction of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The IPL Governing Council decided on Saturday (28 September) that all 10 teams will be allowed to retain a maximum of six players each. The ‘Right to Match’ (RTM) card is also returning to the auction this time.
The six players that franchise teams can retain can be done either through retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) card. The RTM card allows teams to match the highest bid for a player released before the auction.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 28, 2024
The choice of combination for retention and RTM is at the discretion of the IPL franchise. If a franchise retains only three players instead of six, they will be given three RTM cards for the mega auction. There is no set limit on retaining Indian/foreign players and teams can include as many Indian/foreign players as they want in their six retentions. However, teams can retain only a maximum of five capped players and a maximum of two uncapped players.
If a franchise retains 5 players, the following amount will be deducted from the purse:
For the first three retentions – Rs 18 crore, Rs 14 crore and Rs 11 crore.
For the remaining two – Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore.
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This means that the franchise that retains five players before the auction will have to spend Rs 75 crore out of the total amount of Rs 120 crore. IPL has kept only Rs 4 crore for uncapped players, as was the case in the 2021 mega auction. This means that the franchise that has retained six players will have to spend Rs 79 crore from its own purse and will enter the auction with only Rs 41 crore.
Purse limit increased by Rs 20 crore
Let us tell you that the purse limit for teams has been increased to Rs 120 crore. Earlier the purse limit was Rs 100 crore. It is understood that most of the franchises like Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were in favor of retaining six to eight players, while some other franchises do not have much ‘star power’ .
Dhoni will now be retained as an uncapped player?
Five-time IPL champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) can now retain former captain MS Dhoni as an uncapped player. In fact, the IPL has decided to bring back the rule made in 2008, under which Indian players who had retired from international cricket at least five years ago were allowed to participate in the auction as uncapped players.
Match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL. Each player (including impact players) will get a match fee of Rs 7.5 lakh per match. This will be in addition to their contracted amount. On the other hand, foreign players will have to register for the mega auction. If the foreign player does not register, he will be ineligible for registration in the next year’s player auction.
If a player registers for the auction and makes himself unavailable for the IPL season after being selected in the auction, he will be banned from participating in the tournament and auction for 2 seasons.
The salary purse for the franchise in IPL 2025 has been fixed at Rs 120 crore. The total salary cap will now include auction amount, increment performance pay and match fees. The total salary cap (auction amount + increment performance pay) in 2024 was Rs 110 crore, which will now be Rs 146 crore (2025), Rs 151 crore (2026) and Rs 157 crore (2027).