Five retentions, one RTM possible as IPL Governing Council set to confirm rules, auction date soon

The upcoming Indian Premier League 2025 will be having a mega auction as teams will have to rebuild their teams mostly from scratch for the next years. The IPL auction retention rules are the major talking point in the Indian cricketing diaspora.

The speculations over the IPL auction retention rules have become the talk of the town even though the bidding war is still a little far. Franchises would be devising their strategies to build a new team after the retention rules are officially confirmed. 

As per a recent report in ESPNCricinfo, the ten IPL franchises are likely to be allowed to retain up to five players alongside one Right to Match (RTM) card. The IPL Governing Council meeting is scheduled for Saturday evening; the major talking point will be deciding on the retention rules.

The report in ESPNCricinfo added that there is no confirmation on the number of Indian players to be retained or if there will be a cap on the retained overseas players. There is no confirmation on the auction purse of the teams but it is likely to be around INR 115-120 crore.

Notably, the date for the mega auctions, which are expected to take place in the second week of November, could be announced along with its venue. 

It is learnt that the RTM card is likely to make a return. RTM was last used in the IPL 2018 mega auction. It allows teams to retain the players they released during the auction by matching the highest bid. 

Notably, the IPL is also considering bringing back the uncapped player retention rule. The rule allows teams to retain a player who has retired or has not played International cricket for five years. The rule might help the Chennai Super Kings in retaining MS Dhoni as an uncapped player and keeping majority of their purse value in hand.

Dhoni has still not confirmed whether he will be playing the next season. If he decides to play, this rule could help the five-time champions. Dhoni has already handed the captaincy reigns to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of IPL 2024.