IPL 2025 Retention Rules: How many players can be retained before October 31 deadline? Cost, purse involved, RTMs and more | Cricket News
IPL 2025 Retention rules: The IPL 2025 Retentions are set to be unveiled on Thursday as the deadline closes at 5 PM on October 31.
With the IPL set to head into another mega-auction and a fresh three-year cycle, starting with the IPL 2025 season next year, the upcoming retentions will prove to be crucial for all 10 franchises in adopting new strategies for success.
Here is a breakdown of the number of retentions, their cost and the effect on the auction purse
Total purse
Each franchise will have a total of Rs 120 crore as the available purse for both retention and their mega auction purposes.
Six retentions at best
A team can, at best, retain six players the end of the IPL 2025 Auctions. It can be achieved broadly player retentions before the October 31 deadline or the use of Right-to-Match (RTM) cards at the upcoming mega auction.
Player
Purse deduction (in INR)
Capped player 1
18 crore
Capped player 2
14 crore
Capped player 3
11 crore
Capped player 4
18 crore
Capped player 5
14 crore
Each uncapped player
4 crore
If a franchise opts to retain six players before the IPL 2025 Auction, they can retain a maximum of five capped and two uncapped players under various brackets. While the capped players are segregated into three brackets raning from Rs 18 crore to Rs 11 crore, an uncapped player can be retained at Rs 4 crore. The purse will be then broken down as:
Capped
Uncapped
Purse used for retention(In INR)
Purse left for auction(In INR)
5
1
18 + 14 + 11 + 18 + 14 + 4(79 crore)
41 crore
4
2
18 + 14 + 11 + 18 + 4 + 4(69 crore)
51 crore
If a franchise opts to retain less than six players on October 31, the RTM cards will come into play at the mega auction. A team can also choose to release all of their players and enter the mega auction with six RTM cards, enabling them an option to buy-back players at an unrestricted amount.
Capped
Uncapped
RTMs
Purse used
5
0
1
75 crore
45 crore
4
1
1
65 crore
55 crore
4
0
2
61 crore
59 crore
3
2
1
51 crore
69 crore
3
1
2
47 crore
73 crore
3
0
3
43 crore
77 crore
2
2
2
40 crore
80 crore
2
1
3
36 crore
84 crore
2
0
4
32 crore
88 crore
1
2
3
26 crore
94 crore
1
1
4
22 crore
98 crore
1
0
5
18 crore
102 crore
0
2
4
8 crore
112 crore
0
1
5
4 crore
116 crore
0
0
6
0 crore
120 crore
Who is an uncapped player?
According to the retention rules, any Indian player who has yet to play international cricket will fall in the uncapped player category. In a new inititative this season, capped Indian players who have not featured in an internatonal game in the last five years or have not earned a BCCI central contract in this period, will also fall under the ‘uncapped’ player category. This will enable a team like Chennai Super Kings to retain their former captain and talisman MS Dhoni at a reduced slab of INR 4 crore.
