Rishabh Pant's midnight musings: If I go to IPL auction, will I be sold?

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant's latest social media post might have the franchise sweating. In a late-night tweet on Friday, Pant wondered for how much money he would be sold if he were to put his name in the IPL 2025 auction.

In Short

• The BCCI is set to hold the IPL mega auction in 2024
• Rishabh Pant's midnight post has DC fans sweating
• Pant wondered how much money will he fetch from the auction pool

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant latest post on X might have the franchise owners and fans sweating. Taking to X late night on Friday, Rishabh Pant wondered how much money would he fetch if he were to go into the Indian Premier League auction this season.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is set to host the mega-auction this season ahead of the 2025 season of the tournament. The board has allowed each franchise upto six retentions, including a maximum of two uncapped stars. Pant was expected to be the first retention for DC much like he was in previous mega auction when DC made him the captain of the franchise.

Pant's tweet came in stark contrast to a recent statement made by DC co-owner Parth Jindal, who said that the wicketkeeper-batter was certainly going to be retained by the franchise.

"Yes, we definitely have to retain. We have some very good players in our team. The rules have just come out, so after discussing with GMR and our director of cricket, Sourav Ganguly, decisions will be made," Parth Jindal told IANS in an interview.

"Rishabh Pant will definitely be retained. We also have Axar Patel, who is excellent, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Kuldeep Yadav, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, all very good players in our team," he further added on the matter of retentions.

In case Rishabh Pant does opt to go into the auction, Delhi Capitals can still buy back the player, either by being the highest bidder or by exercising the Right To Match card.

What Are the Retention Rules for IPL 2025?

1. The IPL franchises can retain a total of 6 players from their existing squad. This can be either via retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) option.

2. It is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs. The 6 retentions / RTM’s can have a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian & Overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players.

3. The auction purse for the franchises has been set at INR 120 Crore for IPL 2025. The total salary cap will now consist of auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees. Previously in 2024, the total salary cap (auction purse + incremental performance pay) was Rs. 110 Crs which will now be Rs. 146 Crs (2025), Rs. 151 Crs (2026) and Rs. 157 Crs (2027).

4. A match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL. Each Playing member (Including the Impact Player) will get a match fee of INR 7.5 Lakhs per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.

5. Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn't register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year’s player auction.

6. Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 Seasons.

7. A capped Indian player will become uncapped, if the player has in the last five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant Season is held, not played in the starting XI in International Cricket (Test match, ODI, Twenty20 International) or does not have a Central Contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian Players only.

8. The Impact Player Regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycle.