IPL 2025 Retention: How Many Players Can a Team Retain And What Are Retention Costs?

With the IPL 2025 mega auction on the horizon, the teams are set to announce their retention list on Thursday, October 31.

By 5:00 PM on Thursday, franchises will finalise which players they will keep on their roster, balancing star power and emerging talent ahead of the upcoming season.

IPL 2025 Retention Rules Explained: How Many Players Can a Team Retain?

IPL 2025 retention rules allow each franchise to retain up to six players, while the rest of the squad enters the auction pool. Of these six retentions, no more than five can be capped players – Indian or overseas – while two can be uncapped Indians.

The clubs can choose to retain up to six players either through direct retention or through the newly introduced Right to Match (RTM) cards.

IPL 2025 Retention: How Much Do Retentions Cost Clubs?

This year, the IPL teams will have a total salary cap of ₹120 crore – a 20% increase from last season’s limit of ₹100 crore. As such, the teams must strategise as per the IPL retention costs, which are as follows:

1st Player: ₹18 crore
2nd Player: ₹14 crore
3rd Player: ₹11 crore
4th Player: ₹18 crore
5th Player: ₹14 crore

These figures mean that retaining five capped players will cost a team at least ₹75 crore.

For any additional uncapped player, a franchise will pay a fixed ₹4 crore per player, allowing cost-efficient retention of young or emerging stars.

IPL 2025 Retention: What Are Right to Match Cards in Mega Auction?

The IPL 2025 mega auction will see the introduction of Right to Match (RTM) cards, which can be used to reacquire players post-bidding. Each franchise has six total RTM options, reduced by the number of direct retentions. For example, if a team retains three players, they are granted three RTM cards.

Additionally, RTM bids will now undergo a new process: after a successful bid, the previous team matching the bid will grant the highest bidder one last chance to increase the bid in order to acquire their services.

With the deadline for the IPL 2025 Retention List coming up soon, fans will be waiting eagerly to see which players will be seen wearing their jerseys in the next season of the Indian Premier League.