IPL Auction Rules 2025

The IPL 2025 Mega Auction took place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This was the second year in a row that the high-stakes event was held overseas. Unlike the mini-auctions in the previous years, this mega auction, which occurs every three years, allows franchises to retain only a limited number of players—capped at six for this edition—while the rest enter the auction pool. Every franchise made strategic choices to build a competitive squad for the 2025 season out of 577 cricketers, including 367 Indian and 210 overseas players.

What are the rules of the IPL 2025 auction?

The IPL 2025 auction has different rules for building a squad and retaining players. The governing body of the tournament has also updated new rules for RTM cards. Ten teams retained a total of 46 players for IPL 2025, spending Rs 558.5 crore in the process.

Player retention and presentation

The IPL auction commenced with two marquee sets, each featuring six players. It was followed by a structured bidding process based on player categories. The marquee players were auctioned on the first set, which featured a mix of international and Indian cricketers. After that, capped players were auctioned in order of their roles—batters, all-rounders, wicketkeepers, fast bowlers, and spinners—followed by uncapped players in the same order. The event lasted for two days, with the first day consisting of an accelerated auction for the remaining players and the first 12 sets.

Teams	Retained Players
Mumbai Indians	Tilak Varma, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya
Lucknow Super Giants	Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan
Gujarat Titans	Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan
Punjab Kings	Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders	Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh
Rajasthan Royals	Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad	Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen
Delhi Capitals	Abhishek Porel, Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav
Chennai Super Kings	Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni
Royal Challengers Bangalore	Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Virat kohli

Accelerated auction

As the possibility of selling every shortlisted player (574) was unlikely, the accelerated auction was introduced following the auction of the first 116 players. During this phase, teams submitted a list of preferred players from the remaining pool, determining who would be presented next. Any unsold or unlisted players from this round were given another opportunity in the final segment of the accelerated auction.

Squad composition

Each IPL team is permitted to have a squad of up to 25 players, with a limit of 8 international cricketers. A maximum of six players can be retained by a franchise, which can include two uncapped Indian players worth four crore rupees each and up to five international or Indian players with caps. The retained players' salaries are subtracted from the total auction budget, which is set at ₹120 crore. The capped retained players' salary slabs are as follows.

Player 1	INR 18 crore
Player 2	INR 14 crore
Player 3	INR 11 crore
Player 4	INR 18 crore
Player 5	INR 14 crore

Right To Match (RTM) cards rule

A major update has been introduced to the RTM card rule. Franchises that have retained six players will not be eligible to use RTM cards, whereas teams that opt not to retain any players will receive six RTM cards. The bidding team has one more chance to make a counteroffer under the new rule after an RTM card is used. For example, Chennai Super Kings can use their RTM card to bring back Ruturaj Gaikwad if Delhi Capitals make a ₹20 crore bid for him after they release him. But Delhi Capitals can raise their offer, forcing CSK to match it if they want to keep him.