IPL mega auction buzz: Six retained stars and strategic RTM moves

The 10 IPL franchises will be allowed to retain a maximum of six players from their previous squads including usage Right To Match RTM card at the auction that will cost Rs 75 crore out of an enhanced team purse of Rs 120 crore the IPL governing council decided on SaturdayIn a significant move the BCCI also decided that all those India players who havent played any international game for at least five calendar years will deemed ldquouncapped playersrdquo a move being seen to ensure that Chennai Super Kings can retain the peerless Mahendra Singh Dhoni who last played for the country in the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinalIt is learnt that for an uncapped player the retention cost will be Rs 4 crore and hence CSK even if they retain Dhoni can surely save a lot for the auctionA team was allowed up to four retentions in the last mega auction held in 2022On the day BCCI secretary Jay Shah also announced a fixed match fee of Rs 750 lakh for all players selected to play the league games with an additional 105 crore income over and above their salariesA fixed salary purse of Rs 1260 crore in addition to the auction cum retention purse of Rs 120 crore will have to be kept by the franchises for next seasonldquoThe total salary cap will now consist of auction purse incremental performance pay and match fees Previously in 2024 the total salary cap auction purse incremental performance pay was Rs 110 Crs which will now be Rs 146 Crs 2025 Rs 151 Crs 2026 and Rs 157 Crs 2027rdquo the BCCI release statedThe IPL franchises can now retain 6 players from their existing squad either via retention or by using the RTM optionIt is the discretion of the franchise to choose its combination for Retentions and RTMs The 6 retentionRTMs can have a maximum of 5 capped players Indian amp Overseas and a maximum of 2 uncapped playersAlso Read IPL teams divided over mega auction impact player ruleWhile the retention valuation wasnt given in the BCCI media release the PTI confirmed it from an IPL GC sourceldquoThe first retention will cost Rs 18 crore followed by second retention of Rs 14 crore and third retention of Rs 11 crore However if a franchise opts for fourth and fifth retention they will again have to pay Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore respectivelyldquoSo any franchise opts for all five retention of capped players then will have only Rs 45 crore to buy or even use their RTM card to buy another 15 players and prepare a squad There is no cap on Indian and overseas retentionrdquo a senior BCCI and IPL governing council member told PTI on conditions of anonymityIt is understood that most of the stronger franchises like Mumbai Indians Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad were in favour of six to eight retentions as opposed to likes of some other franchises which dont have too much star powerldquoWe introduced more deductions for retention four and five to ensure a level playing field You can go ahead and retain five but then you will have less than Rs 50 crore to deal with at the auction tableldquoAlso if franchises opt for only three retentions then more star value will be added to auction and some of the teams with lesser strength can set their house in order The idea is to have a good competitionrdquo the source saidThis is the route possibly BCCI wants to takeIf Mumbai Indians want to retain Hardik Pandya Rohit Sharma Suryakumar Yadav Jasprit Bumrah and Thilak Varma Rs 75 crore will be deducted from their purseAnd then with Rs 45 crore at auction what happens if Ishan Kishans price skyrockets to Rs 15 crore and they are forced to use a RTM cardIt then effectively boils down to Rs 30 crore to select 14 more playersOne needs to note that retention price is only a deduction from the team purse for the auction but it may or may not be the actual salary of the player which is a playerfranchise separate contractMeanwhile Shah took to twitter to announce the per match fee which effectively means that an uncapped Indian player who can play three games of IPL stands to earn Rs 225 lakh apart from a minimum base price of Rs 20 lakhHence he can earn 425 lakh in a season by playing just three games of three hours whereas if he plays 10 Ranji Trophy games in a season he stands to earn Rs 24 lakh onlyldquoIn a historic move to celebrate consistency and champion outstanding performances in the IPL we are thrilled to introduce a match fee of INR 75 lakhs per game for our cricketers ldquoA cricketer playing all league matches in a season will get Rs 105 crores in addition to his contracted amountrdquo Shah tweetedRules specifically for overseas players Select English and Australian players have time and again ditched their franchises after getting picked at the auction often citing fatigue and other prioritiesThe BCCI is now planning to impose a 2year ban on any player who withdraws after being picked at the auctionSpecifically for overseas stars if they dont register for an auction during a year they cant participate for another two yearsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever