IPL teams to retain 8 Players for IPL 2025 Auction, as per new reports.
The Indian Premier League is set to mark yet another mega auction by the end of this year for the 18th season of the tournament in 2025. After a strong agreement from the team franchises to conduct the mega auction, a huge point that is yet to be taken into consideration is the number of retentions permitted to a team franchise.
As per a close source of the BCCI, the board has invited the owners of all the 10 IPL team franchises for a meeting in Ahmedabad next week on April 16 to decide the future of retentions for the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction.
While revealing the possibility of retaining a minimum of eight players, the source said, “Things are at a very nascent stage. The board is seeking recommendations to carry the league forward. Player-retention is a major factor in that. Going by the informal discussions, the majority of the franchises are in favour of having a provision where they can retain about eight players before the auction.”
The source for the reveal that franchises are reluctant to break the core of the team frequently. In the previously conducted IPL 2022 mega auction, all the 8 team franchises were permitted for retention along with a ‘Right to match’ (RTM). With the RTM card, each team could retain a maximum of five players, while limiting the possibility of retaining only two overseas players.
“Some feel that it doesn’t make sense if the core of the team is broken so frequently. Franchises have identified that there should be a scope to retain the larger part of the core team. There are a couple of objections to this suggestion. Nothing specific has been discussed about the RTM or cap on overseas retention,” the source added.
Previously in the IPL 2022 mega auction, two new teams were introduced hence only eight teams had the right to retain their players. The source discussed that with the presence of 10 teams in the IPL 2025 mega auction, some teams would like a bigger pool of players.
“There will be some resistance because a few franchises will want a bigger pool of players in the auction to rebuild their teams. One must remember that there are 10 teams now and if the number of retentions is increased, then the ‘cream pool’ will become very small. The meeting on April 16 is likely to revolve around the talking points,” the BCCI source concluded.
A few reports also suggested that the teams are interested in urging the BCCI to increase their cumulative salary cap from INR 90 Crores to INR 100 Crores. The board is yet to confirm the details in an official announcement.
