Still have doubts about the IPL auction retention rules released over the weekend? Here's ESPNcricinfo's ready reckoner that unbundles the significant rules that matter.
How many retentions have been allowed?
Franchises can retain up to six players from the 2024 squad - including a maximum of five capped players and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players - before the mega auction. This is the highest number of retentions ever allowed by the IPL and the main reason for doing so is to give franchises an opportunity to retain the core set of players.
Is there a cap on the number of Indian or overseas players retained before the auction?
For the first time, the IPL has imposed no nationality limit on capped players: all five capped retentions can be Indians or overseas exclusively, or a combination of Indians and overseas.
Will there be a right-to-match (RTM) card option available?
Yes, franchises are free to choose their combination of outright retentions and RTM cards to keep hold of up to six players from their 2024 roster. A franchise that retains no players will enter the mega auction with six RTM cards at their disposal; a franchise retaining all six players will have no RTM cards to use at the auction.
The RTM card option was introduced at the mega auction ahead of IPL 2014. It was then retained for the next mega auction ahead of IPL 2018 but discarded before the 2022 season. A maximum of three RTM cards were allowed at mega auctions previously.
While a few franchises had as many as eight RTM options on their wishlist, the rule has seen a significant modification which could play a massive role this time.
What is the modified RTM rule?
The RTM card allows the franchise to buy back a player who was part of their squad in the previous season by simply matching the price at which that player is sold at the auction. In previous mega auctions involving the RTM card, once a player was declared sold, the auctioneer asked the franchise the player belonged to the previous season whether they wished to buy him back; if they did, they secured the player for the amount of the final bid made in the auction.
However at the upcoming auction, if the previous franchise wants to use the RTM card, the franchise that made the final bid will be given an additional opportunity to raise their bid. In case that happens, the original team would need to match that bid using the RTM card to secure the player.
For example, say Venkatesh Iyer isn't retained by Kolkata Knight Riders. Another team or teams including KKR are engaged in a bidding contest at the auction for Venkatesh, and the bidding stops at INR 6 crore with the winning bid not by KKR but another team - say Mumbai Indians. The auctioneer will check with Knight Riders if they want to use the RTM card. If they do, then Mumbai Indians will be given a one-time chance to raise the bid beyond the INR 6-crore mark. In case MI decide not to raise the bid, KKR can retain Iyer using the RTM option. However, if MI raise the bid, then KKR will need to match that raised bid using the RTM card to secure Iyer. If they decline, Iyer will go to MI.
What is the auction purse?
The IPL has increased the auction purse to INR 120 crore, which is a 20% increase from the INR 100 crore that franchises had at the 2024 auction. The purse available at the last mega auction, in 2022, was INR 90 crore, to which increments of INR 5 crore were made every subsequent year.
What are the retention slabs?
The IPL has put in salary caps based on the number of retentions. In a marked shift from previous mega auctions, where every subsequent retention could come at a lesser price, franchises will now have to shell out larger amounts to go beyond three retentions.
For the first three players retained, the salary cap will be INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore and INR 11 crore. The salary cap for the fourth retention will be INR 18 crore. The salary cap for the fifth retention will be INR 14 crore. Uncapped Indians will have a salary cap of INR 4 crore.
So if a franchise retains five capped players before the auction, it will need to spend INR 75 crore - nearly two-thirds of its purse. For context, teams had to shell out just under 47% of their total purse to make the maximum permitted retentions (four) ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
While the IPL has once again agreed to the wish of several franchises to retain the core group of players, it has posed them a two-part riddle: do you want to spend a massive chunk of purse to retain five players ahead of the auction? Or do you release the player(s) you want to retain into the auction where you can use the RTM card option, but remain vulnerable to bids going above the value at which you wanted to retain the player?
Is it true that a former international player can fall in the uncapped category?
Yes, the IPL has revived a rule it had scrapped after the 2021 season, which allowed capped Indian players who had retired or not played international cricket in the last five years to be categorised as uncapped players. This means five-time champions Chennai Super Kings can now retain MS Dhoni as an uncapped player. Not just Dhoni, this rule will allow several other India internationals who were part of the IPL in 2024 to be retained as uncapped players, including the likes of Piyush Chawla, Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma among others.
While CSK will tell you they are happy to pay any price to retain their former captain, a smarter business move would be for them to retain Dhoni at INR 4 crore, the salary cap IPL has put in place for uncapped retentions before the auction.
What is the deadline to finalise retentions?
October 31, 2024 is the deadline for teams to finalise their retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 auction.
For the purposes of retention, any player who makes his international debut before October 31 will be considered capped. If a player is retained while uncapped, he will remain in the uncapped slab even if he plays an international match before the auction.
The former SRH coach is in agreement with the new rules around overseas players in the IPL
What is it that we hear about overseas players potentially facing bans for missing the IPL?
Overseas players who make themselves unavailable for an IPL season after being signed at an auction without legitimate reasons will be penalised with two-year bans. As reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier, all ten IPL franchises had requested to act against late pullouts by overseas recruits during their meeting with the IPL governing council in July.
Additionally, an overseas player who does not register for the mega auction will not be allowed to register for the subsequent mini auction, with exceptions only made in case of injuries and/or medical conditions confirmed by the player's home board.
And there's a cap on how much overseas players can make at mini auctions?
That's right, the IPL has decided to impose a "maximum fee" for overseas players at mini auctions. Any overseas player's auction fee at a mini auction will be the lower figure out of the highest retention price [INR 18 crore] and the highest auction price at the mega auction.
For example, if the highest auction price at the mega auction for IPL 2025 is INR 20 crore, then the maximum fee allowed for an overseas player at the next mini auction will be INR 18 crore. But if the highest auction price at the mega auction is less than INR 18 crore - say, INR 16 crore - then the cap will be INR 16 crore.
How does that affect bidding for overseas players at mini auctions?
The auction process for the overseas player(s) will continue as normal until the player is sold, and the final auction amount will be deducted from the team's auction purse. But the incremental amount over the "maximum fee" will be deposited with the BCCI.
For example, let's say franchises take an overseas player's bid at the next mini auction beyond INR 16 or 18 crore, eventually stopping at INR 24 crore. The player's fee in this case will be the "maximum fee" (as explained above) - so, either INR 16 crore or INR 18 crore. The incremental amount above that - in this case, INR 8 crore or INR 6 crore - will be deposited with BCCI and utilised towards players' welfare.
Can the franchises modify the prescribed retention amounts?
Yes, franchises can pay more or less but that will impact the auction purse effectively. Both instances happened ahead of the mega auction in 2021. Punjab Kings retained two players: Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, who then was uncapped. As per the IPL retention rules, if a franchise retained two players, INR 14 crore would be deducted for the first player, and for an uncapped player it was INR 4 crore. So even though PBKS eventually paid Mayank INR 12 crore and Arshdeep INR 4 crore, their purse going into the auction was 72 crore.
In contrast, Delhi Capitals retained four players: Rishabh Pant (12 cr), Axar Patel (9 cr), Prithvi Shaw (7.5 cr) and Anrich Nortje (6.5 cr). The slabs set by the IPL in case of four capped retentions were: 16 cr, 12 cr, 8 cr and 6 cr. Though DC spent INR 39 crore overall, in the case of Nortje they had paid 2.5 crore more than the prescribed limit. Consequently, DC's purse was deducted by INR 42.5 crore.
Can players refuse to be retained?
Players have the right to refuse to be retained in case they prefer the auction route.