All 10 teams have geared up for the mega auction to be held for IPL 2025. Players will be auctioned in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday. Earlier, all the franchises had released the retention list. Each franchise was allowed to retain a maximum of six players. This also includes the option of Right-to-Match (RTM). These could include two uncapped Indians.
The last mega auction held in the year 2022 was a superhit as every franchise had to form its team from scratch. This time too, the challenge before the franchise will be to make a right team combination and push to win the league ahead. A total of 1574 players had registered for the mega auction of players for IPL 2025 this time, but a total of 577 players were selected, out of which 367 are Indian and 210 are foreign players, while three are from associate nations. This time a total of 331 uncapped players will also try their luck, out of which 319 are Indian and 12 are foreign players. All 10 franchises will bid for 204 vacant places.
All franchises can include a maximum of 25 players in the team, out of which a maximum of eight can be foreigners. This time players like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Jos Buttler, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami will also be included in the auction. All these players are in the marquee set and their base price is Rs 2 crore.
The teams of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals will not be able to use the RTM card during the IPL auction. The reason for this is that both these franchises had retained all six players which was the maximum limit. Defending champions KKR had decided to retain Rinku Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh. On the other hand, Rajasthan retained Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep.
Franchises get the Right to Match Card. Through this, they are able to bring their old players to their team during the auction. They have to pay the price equal to the highest bid for that player. It was not used in the last two auctions, but this year the Right to Match Card has returned. A maximum of six players could be retained, so the franchise that retained fewer players, has more Right to Match cards. For example, if Mumbai and Chennai retained five players each, then they will have only one Right to Match card in the auction. Punjab has retained only two players, so they have four Right to Match cards. Apart from this, the use of Route to Match card will also depend on whether the franchise has retained capped or uncapped players.
The Right to Match card was last used in the 2017 mega auction. After at least three franchises supported RTM, the IPL has decided to restart it from the mega auction to be held for 2025. However, there are some twists in the Right to Match card this time. Let’s know
Keeping in mind the interests of the players, the IPL has made some changes in the RTM rule. Accordingly, the highest bidder will be given one last opportunity to increase their bid for a player before the team holding the RTM card exercises their right. For example, if Team-1 holds an RTM for player X and Team-2 has placed the highest bid of Rs 6 crore on him, then Team-1 will first be asked if they will exercise the RTM? If Team-1 agrees, then Team-2 will have a chance to increase their bid. If Team-2 increases their bid to Rs 9 crore, then Team-1 can use the RTM and buy Player X for Rs 9 crore. If Team-2 chooses not to increase the bid and keeps it at Rs 6 crore, then Team-1 can use the RTM and get Player X for Rs 6 crore.
