Recent reports suggest that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans to continue with its ‘3 + 1’ retention rule at the next auction. The IPL 2025 mega auction will now allow franchises retain three players along with one extra cricketer with the ‘Right-to- Match card’ option.
What is the Right-to-Match Card in IPL Cricket?
The Right-to-Match (RTM) card allows IPL franchises match final bids of their squad players under the Hammer. A franchise can pay the fee for their squad player at auction price. The RTM card gives franchises the ability to retain a former player at the auction rate, keeping their desired squad member within the camp.
How Does the RTM Card Work?
Let’s say Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli becomes available for ₹ 15 crore at auction. If the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) decide to pay for his services at auction, RCB reserves the right to match KKR’s offer. RCB can exercise their right to keep Kohli at RCB using the RTM rule.
What is the Budget of Each IPL Franchise at Auction?
Each IPL franchise usually gets a cash pool of ₹ 100 crore rupees to assemble their team. A regular IPL team comprises three sets of players each season – capped, uncapped, and overseas players.
Auction rules also mandate teams to spend at least 75% of their entire funding pool on players. Rules also say that franchises can spend up to 40% of their funding pool on five high-value cricketers.
Common Player Retaining Policies for IPL Franchises
Restrictions on retention based on nationality
Changes are common in the IPL auctioning system as seen in previous auctions, particularly in 2022. The IPL Mega Auction 2022 ushered in a new rule where every franchise could retain four players with some restrictions. Restrictions prevented franchises from retaining no more than three Indian nationals and two foreign players at auction.
Deduction of salary cap(s) after retention
Every franchise has a fixed budget and retention adds a fresh twist to securing players’ services at auction. Any player retained using the rule will see authorizing bodies remove a pre-determined salary cap from a franchise’s budget. This means that whenever a player retains a player using the ‘3 + 1’ rule, the player salary cap is deducted from their overall budget.
Deducting the player salary cap after retention ensures fairness to other franchise at the auction. The deduction policy also promotes stricter decision-making among franchises before retention. Franchises will tilt towards retaining players they truly need based on the deduction policy.
The regular salary cap(s) removed after retaining three players totals up to ₹33 crore divided as:
- ₹15 crore for first retained player,
- ₹11 crore for second retained player, and
- ₹7 crore for third retained player.
The usual salary cap removed after retaining players usually totals up to ₹42 crore. Organizers of the auction will deduct this salary cap as follows:
- ₹16 crore for first retained player,
- ₹12 crore for second retained player,
- ₹8 crore for third retained player, and
- ₹6 crore for fourth retained player.
What Do IPL Owners Prefer at Auction?
Owners of IPL franchises seem to prefer the approach to player retentions at the next mega auction. Some executives favour fewer RTM cards at auction to equip teams with just enough options to buy ex-players with ease. However, others believe more retention cards can help franchises acquire the services of more cricketers at auction.
Differing opinions exist; however, all franchise owners seem to agree that too many RTM cards (between 6 and 8 per team) will make the process worthless.
How is the IPL Auction Useful to Uncapped Players?
Uncapped players with a chance to perform at the IPL can take advantage of their talents to become emerging players’ post-auction. Fresh opportunities available to uncapped cricketers allows younger players a chance to retain the IPL’s tradition ahead of trading aging or foreign squad members every season.
Where Will the IPL 2025 Mega Auction Hold?
The scheduled date for IPL 2025 Mega Auction will be public after the T20 World Cup 2024. IPL franchises and authorizing bodies were scheduled to hold a meeting to determine dates for essential events ahead of IPL 2025. However, the meeting originally planned for April 2024 was postponed to after India’s T20 WC campaign in the USA and Caribbean.
Was the IPL 2024 a Mega Auction?
No, the IPL 2024 event was a mini-auction and saw several big names trade places across franchises. Teams spent several crores (in rupees) to secure services of their preferred cricketers at this event. Apart from being a mini auction, it was the first time an IPL auctioning event was held outside India’s shores.
