The Indian Premier League (IPL) has introduced a new retention formula that will require teams to pay a higher price for retaining more players. The formula, which can be described as ‘pay more to retain more’, stipulates that teams will have to pay a higher price for their fourth and fifth retained players.
The auction purse for each team has been increased to Rs 120 crore. For the first three retentions, the deductions will be Rs 18 crore, 14 crore, and 11 crore, respectively. This means that if a team chooses to retain more players, they will have less money available to spend in the auction.
The fourth and fifth retention will cost the franchise the same amount as Player No. 1 and No. 2. The price for the uncapped player has been pegged at Rs 4 crore. In total, retaining six players will cost Rs 79 crore, leaving the franchise with Rs 41 crore to build the remainder of their squad.
Under the new regulations, each franchise can retain up to six players using a combination of Retentions and the Right to Match (RTM) options, with no restriction on the number of overseas players that can be retained. Teams are allowed to retain a maximum of five capped players and up to two uncapped players.
For Mumbai Indians, the priority would be to retain their star-studded Indian core, including captain Hardik Pandya, India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, former skipper Rohit Sharma, and one of the world’s top fast bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah. These four players are likely to be the marquee picks for five-time champions MI, meaning the franchise will have to pay a significant sum to retain them.
If Hardik and Surya are retained as the first and second players at Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore, respectively, then Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah would be retained as the fourth and fifth players at the same amounts as the first and second retentions. Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who was the most expensive player at the last mega-auction in 2022, can be their third retention at Rs 11 crore.
