The Indian Premier League is the world’s biggest T20 league in cricket. It features franchise teams that consist of players from different nationalities that are bought through auctions. The Governing Council meeting of the IPL introduced and re-introduced major rules pertaining to player retentions for the 2025-27 cycle.
Usually, a franchise team should have 25 players. Out of them, no more than eight players can be of non-Indian origin. Out of the 11 players who take to the field, only four can be non-Indians. After the contract of these players for their respective franchise ends, the team management has the chance to either retain a few key players, Indian or non-Indians.
From the 2025 season, teams can retain six players, five capped and one uncapped player. An uncapped player is one who has played international cricket previously but does not have an active contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The retention value of an uncapped player start from INR 4 crores. This will be deducted from the franchise’s initial purse which will be INR 120 crores from the 2025 edition.
The retention value of the capped players will be INR 18 crores, INR 14 crores, INR 11 crores, INR 18 crores, and INR 14 crores for retained players one to five respectively. It is not mandatory for a franchise to use all the retentions. This is where the right to match rule comes into picture.
According to the right to match rule, a team can re-sign its existing player. The number of times a player can use the right to match rule depends on the number of direct retentions the team is yet to make. The cost to re-sign a player depends on the amount at which a rival franchise has decided to buy the player at. If the parent team wishes to re-sign the player, then they can use their right to match rule.
The IPL retention rule is a re-introduction of the rule that was scrapped off in 2021. Apart from this, overseas players will also have to register themselves mandatorily ahead of the auction. It will also have a maximum fee that an overseas player can stand to gain from. These rules will thus be implemented in the 2025 auction and the subsequent mini-auctions.
