New Delhi: The rumour mills are working overtime ahead of the Indian Premier League retention day on October 31 (Friday). While the focus will be on big names, several uncapped players might also hog the limelight as teams get ready to unveil their respective retention lists.
The franchises can retain up to six players, via retention or Right to Match, from the existing squad which is the highest in the history of the cash-rich tournament.
The auction purse for the franchises has been set at a whopping 120 crore for IPL 2025 – a rise of Rs 20 crore from the previous edition. The total salary cap will comprise of auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees. In 2024, the total salary cap (auction purse + incremental performance pay) was Rs 110 crore which will now be Rs 146 crore in 2025, Rs 151 crore in (2026 and Rs 157 crore in 2027.
BCCI has introduced a match fee for the first time in IPL.
Ahead of the retention deadline day, let’s take a look at the new rules.
IPL 2025 Retention: What are the new rules?
- The IPL franchises can keep hold of six players from their existing squad either via retention or by exercising the Right to Match (RTM) card.
- IPL franchises have been given the right to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs. The six retentions/RTMs can have a maximum of five capped players (Indian and foreign) and a maximum of two uncapped players.
- The IPL 2025 auction will witness the biggest-ever purse for the franchises in the history of the tournament. The auction purse has been set at Rs 120 crore for the 2025 edition – a raise of 20 crore from the previous edition.
- For the first time in the history of IPL, players will get a match fee. Each player, including the Impact Player, will get a match fee of Rs 7.5 Lakhs per match. The match fee will be in addition to the contracted amount.
- Foreign players will now have to register for the Big Auction, if he doesn’t, he will be ineligible to register in the next year’s player auction.
- Any player (Indian or overseas) who registers his name and gets picked in the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, won’t be allowed to participate in the tournament and player auction for the following two seasons.
- A capped Indian player will be deemed uncapped if he has not played in any international fixture in the last five calendar years. This rule is only applicable to the Indians.
