New Delhi: The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council on Saturday finally released the much-anticipated new set of player retention rules for the mega auction of IPL 2025. Significant changes have been made in terms of the retentions with several twists in place so as to financially protect the team’s management as well.
With the rules coming out, a final deadline has also been given to all the franchises to finalise and submit the list of their retained players. As per the new rules, the IPL franchises, through a combination of retentions and the right-to-match (RTM) option, can retain up to six players – a maximum of five capped (Indian and overseas) and a maximum of two uncapped (Indian) – ahead of the mega auction.
It is also noteworthy that each uncapped player who is retained will be valued at Rs. 4 crores and this amount will be subtracted from the total purse for each team which is Rs. 120 crores for IPL 2025. The amount has been increased by Rs. 20 crore from the previous season.
“The six retentions/RTMs can have a maximum of five capped players and a maximum of two uncapped players. It is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for retentions and RTMs,” a release from the IPL said. Now that the rules are out, the franchises will have to mull over their list of retentions and the list of released players, which will be a strenuous job.
IPL 2025 retention last date
The franchises have until 5:00 pm IST on October 31, 2024, to finalise and submit the list of retained players ahead of the mega auction for the 2025 season. It is highly noteworthy that for the purposes of retention, a player who debuts internationally on or before October 31, 2024, will be considered a capped player.
But if that player is retained as one of the uncapped players, and then goes on to play his maiden international game before the day of the auction, he would be considered as uncapped.
Discarded rule back
While the price for the retained uncapped players has remained the same i.e. Rs 4 crore, which was the case in the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022, the IPL has brought back a rule that was discarded back in 2021. The rule allows retired Indian players from international cricket to go into the auction as uncapped players if it has been at least five years (before the relevant season) of their retirement.
The rule is highly correlated with legendary MS Dhoni, who if agrees to play the next season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), will have the option of getting retained as an uncapped player, having last played an international match at the 2019 ODI World Cup.
With the new set of player retentions rules finally out ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction, the franchises have been given a deadline to finalise and submit the list of all their retained players. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
