IPL 2025 Mega Auction: Six Retentions, RTM Comeback Confirmed, Impact Player to Continue

On Saturday, September 28, in Bengaluru, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League’s General Council (IPL GC) met. According to the most recent information, teams are allowed to keep up to six players, and the Right-to-match (RTM) card will be available again in the forthcoming IPL 2025 auctions.

Moreover, the highly contested Impact Player regulation will persist until 2027. In addition, the total purse for the IPL auction would be higher than it was the previous year, according to schedules finalized for the mega sale. Notably, the purse will hold INR 120 crore, or around $14.33 million USD, exceeding the previous edition by a massive INR 20 crore.

It’s interesting to note that the IPL franchises will also be allowed to employ a direct retention regulation, which gives them the choice to guarantee their retention through RTMs, retentions, or a mix of the two.

Furthermore, there will be no cap on the remaining five retained players, but the IPL teams will now need to hold onto at least one uncapped player. This would imply that the teams might choose to keep all of the foreign players, all of the Indian players, or a mix of both.

Different slabs for IPL 2025 retention

Speaking of retention rules, further regulations will be in place if an IPL franchise wants to keep five players. Notably, the franchises will need to pay INR 18 crore, 14 crore, and 11 crore, respectively, for the first three retentions. In contrast, a cap of INR 18 crore and 14 crore has been placed on the remaining two retentions. If five players are retained before the auction, an IPL franchise will ultimately pay INR 75 crore of the INR 120 crore total purse.

Also Read: BCCI’s historic IPL 2025 announcement,, players to earn INR 7.5 lakhs extra per match

Meanwhile, the IPL GC agreed to pay INR 4 crore for an uncapped player. As a result, if a franchise decides to keep all six players before the auction, they will need to part with INR 79 crore and have just INR 41 crore available.

Key takeaways of IPL 2025 retention rules

• Franchises to pay for the first three retentions – INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore and INR 11 crore
• For fourth and fifth player retention – INR 18 crore and INR 14 crore
• The overall cost of five retentions will be INR 75 crore
• Combination for Retentions and RTMs- Teams can either retain 6 players, RTMs can have five capped players (Indian & Overseas) and two uncapped players at max
• Total Purse allocated for IPL 2025 Auction- INR 120 crore
• The total salary cap (auction purse along with incremental performance pay) was Rs. 110 Crore in the IPL 2024 season. It will now be INR 146 crore (2025), INR 151 Crore (2026) and INR 157 crore (2027).
• Players to get an additional match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match apart from their contracted amount.
• If an overseas player fails to register for the Mega auction, he will be deemed ineligible for next year’s player auction.
• If a player fails to remain available for the IPL season after getting picked in the auction, he shall be barred from the tournament and from the auctions for the next two years.
• A capped IPL player who has not been a part of India’s playing XI in international cricket in the last five years across any formats or doesn’t hold a central contract with the BCCI will be deemed as an uncapped player.
• The Impact Player rule will continue in the upcoming IPL 2025 and will continue till the 2027 season.