IPL 2025 auction: IPL 2025-27 player retention policy explained

The Indian Premier League Governing Body finally announced the player retention policy for the upcoming IPL 2025-27 cycle on Saturday. The governing body had a meeting with the 10 IPL owners in July, earlier this year to discuss the policies and they finally finalised the player regulations. Here are the below findings of the policies.

1. A maximum of 6 players can be retained

A franchise can retain only 6 players from their previous squad. They can retain 6 players via Retentions or Right to Match option. Among the six players retained, teams can have a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian & Overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players.

2. Details on capped and uncapped players

Indian capped players who have featured in the playing XI of any Test match, ODI, or Twenty20 Internationals in the last five international seasons, do not have a Central Contract with BCCI, will be considered as uncapped players. This rule is only applicable to the Indian players.

In that case, players like MS Dhoni can be used as uncapped players during the retentions and IPL 2025 auction.

3. A total auction purse of INR 120 cr

Franchises will now go with INR 120 cr in the upcoming mega acution. Every uncapped player will be valued at INR 4 cr, while the capped players will be valued at the following price. 

So, every time a franchise retains a player, the amount of that retention will be subtracted from the total purse and the franchise will have to go with less money in the auction.

Example: A franchise team chooses to retain 6 players (5 capped and 1 uncapped), a total INR 79 cr (75 for capped and 4 for uncapped) will be subtracted from their purse. The team will then have to go with INR 41 crores in the auction and they will have no RTM option available in the auction as well.

However, this is the minimum ammount a team can lose for retentions. Teams can spend more than the above-cited prices for the capped players to retain them. For example, if a team spend goes on to spend INR 20 crores for a player to retain as their first option, extra INR 2 crores will be deducted from their purse.

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4. New addition to the Right to Match option

BCCI has introduced a new rule to the Right to Match option. Firstly, teams can ony use Right to Match option only if they have not retained a maximum of six players. If they have retained 5 players, they will have only 1 RTM available to use during the auction to bring back one of their previous players.

Now, earlier, the current team could match the price of the highest bidding team's price to use the RTM. But, from now on, the highest bidding team will have the option to raise the price before the current team chooses to use RTM or not.

Example: Mumbai Indians have placed the highest bid of INR 8 crores for Venkatesh Iyer. Now, Kolkata Knight Riders, Iyer's current team will be asked if they want to use RTM or not. If KKR decides to use the RTM option, Mumbai Indians will be given an opportunity to raise their bid and place a final bid. Suppose, MI have placed a final bid of INR 10 crores for Venkatesh Iyer, then KKR will have to match that price to use the RTM option.

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5. New salary cap 

A new salary cap has been announced for the IPL 2025-27 cycle with the auction purse and incremental performance pay and match fees. In IPL 2024 the total salary cap was INR 110 crores which now will be INR 146 Crs in 2025, INR 151 Crs in 2026 and INR 157 Crs in 2027.

6. New match fee for the players

In a historical announcement, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced that a match fee for the players will be introduced for the first time in IPL history. Players in the playing XI and the impact player will now receive a match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match during the 2025-27 cycle.

So, a cricketer playing all league matches in a season will get an additional Rs. 1.05 crores during the season.

Jay Shah's Exciting Announcement for IPL Players:

Match Fee: ₹7.5 Lakhs per match.
Full Season Bonus: ₹1.05 Crores for players participating in all league matches.
Total Team Earnings: ₹12.60 Crores in match fees for the season.

A Historic Initiative by Jay Shah! 💙 pic.twitter.com/BYhRx9iCmo

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) September 28, 2024

7. New rule for overseas players

Since we have seen many overseas players opting out from the season after getting bought by a team during the auction, BCCI and the Governing Body have come up with a new rule for overseas players. 

Overseas players will have to register for the Mega Auction. Players who fail to register themselves, will not be able to participate in the auction.

Moreover, if the player registers himself for the auction and then opts out before the season starts, will be banned from participating in the tournament and will also face a 2-auctions ban as well. There will be expectations in injury/medical emergencies, confirmed by the Board.

8. New Salary cap for the foreign players in the mini-auctions

In the mini-action in 2026, overseas players will see a new salary cap. Their salary cap will be determined by the highest bid auction price or the highest bid retention price of 2025.

Example: Suppose, Royal Challengers Bangalore have used INR 20 crores to retain Virat Kohli, the highest in the season and then Mayank Yadav received the highest bid of INR 18 crores in the auction. In that case, the maximum an overseas player can get in the 2026 mini-auction is INR 20 croes. 

If, Mayank Yadav receives the highest bid of INR 21 crores, then salary cap for the overseas player in the mini auction will be INR 21 crores.

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7. The impact player rule continues

Although the impact player faced a few criticisms after the IPL 2024, as all-rounders only wanted to bat or bowl, BCCI continued with the impact rule for the next cycle.