Explained: What the IPL salary cap for overseas players announced by the BCCI is all about

The BCCI unveiled the Indian Premier League (IPL) player regulations for the next three seasons on Saturday in which it confirmed a number of major decisions.

The IPL Governing Council (GC) had met in Bengaluru recently and made decisions on a number of key issues ranging from the number of players that franchises can retain ahead of the mega auction to a suspension for players withdrawing at the start of a season.

Explained | How many players can a franchise retain? What is the total purse for each team?

The BCCI also introduced a new rule concerning the salaries of overseas players — a first in the history of the league that has been around for 16 years now.

What is the new salary cap for overseas players in the IPL?

The new by-law puts a cap on the salaries of premium overseas players, which henceforth will be the same as that of the highest-earning Indian player in the previous season— whether the price at which he had been retained or the highest bid attracted at last year’s auction, whichever is lower.

Therefore, if an Indian player at the auction is retained in the Rs 18 crore category or fetches a bid equivalent to or more than that amount, that will become the new salary cap for the top-earning overseas player.

Or if Virat Kohli is retained at Rs 18 crore and his Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Rajat Patidar becomes the top earning Indian at the auction with a bid of Rs 16 crore, the latter will become the salary cap for foreign players next year.

If a foreign player ends up fetching a bid of Rs 25 crore in the auction and the salary cap is set at Rs 18 crore, then the remaining Rs 7 crore will go to the BCCI for players’ welfare.

It ensures that Indian players remain the top or the joint-highest earners in IPL auctions, in which the foreign players have commanded the highest bid in four of the last five auctions and in seven of the last 10.

Six of the costliest players in IPL history are all foreigners, with Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins occupying the top two spots, having smashed records last year after being bought at prices of Rs 24.75 crore and Rs 20.5 crore respectively.

Read | Mitchell Starc and other top buys in IPL 2024 Auction

While Starc was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders, Cummins was appointed Sunrisers Hyderabad captain and led the Orange Army to the final.

The BCCI, however, will not be implementing the rule in this year’s mega auction and will instead be putting it to use in next year’s mini auction.