BCCI sets October 31 as the deadline to announce retentions for IPL 2025

The IPL governing council has set October 31, 2024, as the deadline for all franchises to announce their respective retention picks. As per the retention rules set ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, a franchise can retain up to six players before the auction. One of the six retentions must be an uncapped Indian player. The board has placed no restrictions on how many of the remaining five retention picks should be Indian players. Moreover, every team will receive an RTM card in the mega auction. In another exciting update, any team that doesn’t use all of its five retention slots will get one extra RTM card for each of the slots kept empty ahead of the mega auction.

Uncapped Player criteria set by BCCI for IPL 2025 mega auction

The uncapped player criteria can prove tricky for some teams ahead of the mega auction. The board has allotted INR 120 crore as the auction purse, out of which INR 79 crore can be used if a franchise decides to retain six players before the auction. The first three retention options are set at INR 18 crore, 14 crore, and 11 crore, respectively. Subsequently, the fourth and fifth retention picks will receive INR 18 crore and 14 crore each. The INR 4 crore slab can prove to be a respite for many teams that have identified their star performer in earlier seasons.

However, the board has specified that any player named in the Indian national side before October 31 will be considered a 'capped' player in the retention criteria. For instance, players like Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, and Nitish Kumar Reddy will enter the IPL 2025 retention as capped players. All three were sensational performers for their respective teams in IPL 2024. Subsequently, they have been named in the India squad for the India vs. Bangladesh T20I series. Thus, if KKR, SRH, and LSG want to retain Rana, Reddy, and Yadav, respectively, they will need to spend more than just INR 4 crore.

"It may be noted that for retention purposes, any player who gets capped on or before October 31, 2024, will be considered a capped player," the BCCI official release read.

The rule further explains that if any player is named in the India squad after the retentions are set, he will be considered an 'uncapped' pick throughout the course of IPL 2025. Thus, any player who is retained in the INR 4 crore slab before October 31 will remain in the same category, unaffected by his selection in the India squad for upcoming national assignments.