IPL Auction 2025 Rules: How teams can use RTM card, accelerated auction process explained

The wait is almost over and in a few hours we will have the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025 player auction taking place at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The IPL 2025 player auction will be spread over two days – 24 November and 25 November with all 10 franchises fighting to fill up the 204 slots combined . They have a combined purse of Rs 641.5 crore to spend and a total of 577 players have been listed for the IPL auction 2025 .

The Punjab Kings (PBKS) have the maximum budget among all teams as they retained just two uncapped players. Rajasthan Royals (RR), meanwhile, have the smallest remaining purse of Rs 41 crore. In fact, all 10 IPL teams are allowed to retain a maximum of six players with a combination of retention and right-to-match (RTM) cards. The IPL teams, however, can only retain a maximum of five capped players — both Indian as well as foreigners — along with a maximum of two uncapped players.

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Here’s a list of the number of players retained by IPL teams so far:

How can IPL teams buy players in the auction?

It’s a simple process where once a player is nominated by the auctioneer the teams start making bids for the player. The player is eventually sold to the team with the highest bid.

Can IPL teams use RTM cards in the auction?

As teams had the option to retain six players with a combination of retention and RTM, only those teams who did not retain a full quota of six players will be able to use RTM for players who have been retained from their squads. For example, RR and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) who have retained six players each will not have any RTM card, but PBKS have four RTMs as they have retained just two players.

Another thing to note is that the rule that an IPL team can only retain a maximum of five capped players and two uncapped Indian players will continue to be in force. So any team that has already retained five capped players can now only use the RTM card for an uncapped Indian player during the mega auction.

A new twist to RTM rule for IPL Auction 2025

There’s one new twist as well. The RTM was also used in 2014 and 2018 auctions but one thing is different this time which is that when a team uses the RTM card, the original bidding team gets a final chance to increase their bid for the player. If they do so, the team using the RTM card must match the new bid to retain the player. If they choose not to, the player will go to the highest bidder, and the RTM card will remain available for the original team to use later.

What is accelerated auction rule?

The accelerated auction process is set to commence after the first 116 players on the list have been presented for bidding. Ricky Bhui, listed as the 117th player, is part of the second group of uncapped batters.

This accelerated phase will unfold in two parts. In the first phase, franchises will nominate players from serial numbers 117 to 574 whom they wish to see included in the auction. The second phase will feature all unsold or unpresented players from the full list of 574, giving franchises an opportunity to re-nominate them for bidding.