In the latest edition of the Indian Premier League, franchises will be able to retain a maximum of five players through pre-auction retention and Right to Match cards.

The IPL GC decided the following –

(A). Player Retention Policy

An IPL Franchise is eligible to secure up to 5 players by virtue of a combination of Player Retention (Pre Player Auction) and Right to Match (RTM) (During the Player Auction).

• A maximum of either 3 retentions or 3 RTM at the discretion of the franchises
• If there is no retention before player auction then franchises can have up to 3 RTM

Following will apply irrespective of player retention or RTM –

A maximum number of 3 Capped Indian players.
A maximum number of 2 Overseas players.
A maximum number of 2 Uncapped Indian players.

The player pool available for CSK and RR for retention/RTM will be the players’ who played for them respectively in IPL 2015 and who were part of RPS and GL squads in IPL 2017. The likes of Ben Stokes and Jason Roy thus will go back into the auction pool having not played for either CSK or RR in IPL 2015.

(B). Salary Cap

Increased revenue means a rise in the available salary purse for the eight franchises.  This year franchise will have 80 crores to spend (up from 66 crores in 2017)

2018 – INR 80 Crore
2019 – INR 82 Crore
2020 – INR 85 Crore

The minimum spend will be 75 percent of the salary cap for each season.

(C). Player Retention Price Guideline

 If a team chooses to retain three players, a cumulative of INR 33 crores will be deducted from the base auction purse (15, 11, 7 for the three players respectively)

- If a team chooses to retain two players, INR 21 crores will be deducted (12.5 and 8.5 for the two players respectively) from the purse

- If a team retains just one player, INR 12.5 crore will be deducted from the purse. 

Each uncapped player retained will cost INR 3 crores from the salary purse.

The deduction from the salary purse in case of retention will be determined on the basis of guideline price or actual price (whichever is higher).

(D). Minimum Auction Reserve Price

The uncapped players in the lowest category will be valued at INR 20 lakhs, rising up to 30 and 40 lakhs in the two other categories. 

For the capped players, the categories at the higher end of the spectrum remain at INR 2 crore, 1.5 crores and 1 crore while the those at the lower end have been plumped up to INR 50 and 75 lakhs (earlier 30 and 50 lakhs).

(E). Franchise Squad Size

A maximum of 25 players (up to 8 overseas) and a minimum of 18 players.