IPL auction | Overseas players’ earnings capped at ₹18 crore

Mitchell Starc at ₹24.75 cr was the biggest beneficiary at the last mini-auction, held in December 2023.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

In a bid to ensure that Indian cricketers end up raking in the most money in the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction, the IPL governing council has capped an overseas player’s earning at the mini-auction at ₹18 crore, the highest permissible retention fees.

The decision was made while finalising the IPL player auction rules here on Saturday night. Later, a document with salient features about player regulations for the IPL 2025 player auction was shared with the franchises and BCCI affiliates.

“Any overseas player’s auction fee at the small auction will be lower than the highest retention price of ₹18 crore or the highest auction price at the big auction,” states the document, accessed by The Hindu.

“In case the highest auction price at a big auction is ₹20 cr., then ₹18 cr. will be the cap. If the highest auction price at a big auction is ₹16 cr. then the cap will be ₹16 cr.”

It effectively means that no overseas player can be sold for a fee larger than some retained superstars of Indian cricket. A trend of smaller auctions witnessing skyrocketing fees has emerged over the last few years.

The discussion took a serious turn when two Australian cricketers — Mitchell Starc (₹24.75 cr) and Pat Cummins (₹20.50 cr) — fetched humongous sums at the last mini-auction, held in December 2023.

Immediately after the auction, a few BCCI officials had stressed on the need to ensure India’s cricketers remain the biggest gainers from the IPL. The governing council has thus approved the formula designed by IPL chief executive Hemang Amin and his team.

Meanwhile, the governing council has also hiked the reserve price for all the cricketers featuring in the auction. The minimum base price for capped cricketers has been raised from ₹50 lakh to ₹75 lakh, while that for uncapped cricketers has been increased from ₹20 lakh to ₹30 lakh.

As a result, the five brackets for the capped players for the 2025 auction will be ₹75 lakh, ₹1 crore, ₹1.125 crore, ₹1.50 crore and ₹2 crore. Similarly, the uncapped players’ base price categories will be ₹30 lakh, ₹40 lakh and ₹50 lakh.