3 New IPL Mega Auction Rules for Overseas Players: The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council (GC) met in Bengaluru on Saturday, September 28, to finalize and announce the IPL player regulations and rules pertaining to the IPL 2025 mega auction and beyond.
As it had been reported earlier, the IPL has allowed all 10 franchises to retain up to six players through retentions and the Right To Match (RTM) option, with a maximum of five capped players (Indian and Overseas) and a maximum of two uncapped players. It is at the discretion of the teams to choose their combination for retentions and RTMs.
There are different slabs or price brackets for the retentions, and there is a new rule regarding RTM, which has not been made official and is beyond the scope of this piece.
What we will talk about in this article is BCCI and IPL GC’s new rules regarding overseas players.
IPL 2025 Mega Auction: 3 New IPL Mega Auction Rules for Overseas Players
1. Overseas players must register in the mega auction
There have been thoughts that a few overseas players have avoided entering the mega auction and instead entered the mini auction to get better deals. In mini-auctions, franchises usually come with one, two, or three players in mind and go hard after them, thus arguably giving them higher prices than they would have gotten in a mega-auction.
The BCCI has now announced that overseas players must register for the mega auction. If they don’t, they will not be allowed to enter the following year’s mini-auction.
2. Two-season ban for overseas players pulling out after being sold
During the meeting between the franchise owners and the IPL GC in July, some owners expressed displeasure at a few overseas players pulling out before the start of the tournament and after being bought in the auction. They requested the BCCI act against such players.
The board heard the owners and has responded by introducing a ban of two years (or two seasons) for the overseas players who make themselves unavailable ahead of the season after being bought at an auction without legitimate reasons.
Although the BCCI didn’t particularly mention overseas players in this rule, it was understandable against whom this rule is particularly intended, as rarely has an Indian player pulled out of an IPL season for reasons other than injury.
3. Cap on salary of overseas players in mini-auction
The IPL GC has imposed a “maximum fee” for overseas players at mini auctions. In a mini-auction from next year, the salary an overseas player will receive is capped at INR 18 crore, though he can be sold for a higher price, and the difference of which will go to the BCCI and be utilized towards players’ welfare.
“Any overseas player’s auction fee at the small auction will be lower of the highest retention price [of INR 18 crore] and the highest auction price at the big auction,” the IPL said in the document. “In case the highest auction price at the big auction is INR 20 crore, then INR 18 crore will be the cap. If the highest auction price at big auction is INR 16 crore, then the cap will be INR 16 crore.”
For example, if a player X is retained in the highest bracket of INR 18 crore and a player Y is sold for INR 16 crore in the mega auction, then in the subsequent mini auctions, INR 16 crore will be the maximum salary an overseas player can earn, though he could be sold for a higher price, with the difference going to the BCCI. The sold amount will be slashed off from the franchise’s purse as usual.
Further, if a player Z (Indian) is sold for INR 20 crore in the mega auction, then the maximum salary for any overseas player in the subsequent mini auctions will be INR 18 crore. Again, he can be sold for a higher price.
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