It’s that time of the year when IPL franchises take a call on who to retain or release. With the deadline for 10 teams to submit their list of retained players ending today at 5 pm, TOI takes a look at the rules that have been put in place and how much room teams have to juggle their strategies before the 2025 mega auction…
HOW MANY PLAYERS CAN BE RETAINED?
To help the teams keep their core intact, IPL has allowed the franchises to retain a maximum of six players of which five can be capped players (Indian or overseas) and two uncapped. For example: A team can pick a combination of five capped players and one uncapped or four capped and two uncapped.

Rs 120 CRORE
Salary purse each team will have at their disposal. That’s a 20 per cent increase from last year’s auction. During the last mega auction held for the 2022 edition, the salary cap was Rs 90 crore.
HOW MUCH TEAMS CAN SPEND ON RETAINING PLAYERS
A team will end up spending Rs 79 crore if they retain five capped players and one uncapped player to fill their quota of six players and they will be left with a purse of Rs 41 crore during the auction.
They can divide the purse of Rs 75 crore among the capped players in any proportion if they choose to retain all five. For example: If the first player is retained for Rs 25 crore they will have to convince the fifth player to be retained for Rs 7 crore.
If the franchise spends more than Rs 75 crore on retaining capped players, that amount will be deducted from their auction purse.

HOW DOES RTM COME INTO PLAY?
If a team decides to release all its players, they can enter the auction with six Right to Match (RTM) cards. It depends on the team, how many players they want to retain first or buy through RTMs during the auction.
In the 2025 auction, the franchise that bids the highest for a particular player will be given another opportunity to raise their bid to keep hold of that player. They will only lose that player if his previous team matches the increased bid to buy him back.

WHO IS AN UNCAPPED PLAYER?
MS Dhoni falls under this category as he hasn’t been a part of the starting XI in an international match in the last five years. Also players who are yet to debut for India fall in this category.
The minimum base price for a player will be Rs 30 lakh which is a 50 per cent increase from the last auction when the base price was Rs 20 lakh.
REGULATIONS FOR OVERSEAS PLAYERS
We have seen in the past that overseas players have pulled out of the IPL just before the start of it. To address this concern, the BCCI has asked all the overseas players to register for the mega auction if they want to take part in the IPL. If they don’t, they can’t be part of next season’s mini auction.
Exceptions will be granted only for medical and injury reasons. If one withdraws post auction, he will be banned for two years.