All ten franchises participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 will have the opportunity to retain up to six players before the auction. The IPL General Council members, who convened in Bengaluru on Saturday, have mandated that one of the six retentions must be an uncapped player. The remaining five players can be either Indian or overseas.
Franchises have the option to retain players through direct retention or a combination of retention and Right to Match (RTM) options.
If a team chooses to retain five players, the first three retentions will cost them Rs 18 crore, Rs 14 crore, and Rs 11 crore, respectively, from the total purse of Rs 120 crore, which includes Rs 20 crore from the previous year's auction. The last two retentions will cost Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore. In total, a team retaining five players will enter the auction with Rs 45 crore.
Furthermore, each franchise can retain a maximum of two uncapped players. The IPL General Council has decided to maintain a salary cap of Rs 4 crore for an uncapped player, as per the BCCI release on ESPNcricinfo.
"The IPL has decided to bring back a rule that it had instituted in 2008, allowing Indian players who had retired from international at least five years prior to go into the auction as an uncapped player. The rule, never used, was scrapped in 2021. However, during the broader discussion on uncapped players, the IPL informed the franchises that it was reviving the rule," a report highlighted.
In this scenario, the five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have the option to retain franchise legend MS Dhoni as an uncapped player. Dhoni was CSK's second pick in the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 12 crore. At 43 years old, Dhoni has solely focused on playing in the IPL since his international retirement in August 2020. Despite speculation, Dhoni has remained silent about his future in the game.
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