IPL 2025 Auction: Latest News & Betting Tips

The Indian summer is right around the corner, and so is the world’s most popular domestic T20 cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL). In addition to the adrenaline-pumping matches, there is another facet of the league that’s equally exciting for cricket lovers & bettors – the IPL auction that precedes the league!

Betting on the IPL Auction

There are several leading bookmakers that offer IPL match bets, but when it comes to IPL auction bets, there’s only one bookmaker in the market that provides them – betway.

On Betway, you can place wagers on IPL 2022 auction markets such as:

IPL Auction: Brief History & Background

The Indian Premier League includes compulsory auctions before every IPL season. The procedure has been followed since the inception of the prestigious league in 2008, and has always generated a lot of buzz among the cricket community.

Every auction season draws registrations from cricket players across the world, and the 15th season of IPL auctions this year is no different. The BCCI, the nodal cricket board that governs the IPL, received a massive 1,214 player registrations for auction bids this season, out of which only 590 players will be going under the hammer.

The auction for the 15th season of the IPL will be conducted on the 12th and 13th February 2022 in Bengaluru, India.

How Does IPL Auction Work?

The IPL auction is a star-studded event where millionaire owners hit the auction table with their entourage of seasoned analysts, coaches, and selection experts. The multi-day event is akin to an intense corporate bidding war where teams look forth to bag their favourite players.

Each team is given the option to retain not more than four players from the previous season before the bidding process. The general trend shows most teams retaining their captain, along with a star batsman and bowler.

The remaining players are released and registered into the common auction pool along with debutants, where any team can purchase them for the current season by placing the highest bid.

The league categorises players based on their nationality and playing experience, and has certain rules regarding squad limit for different player categories. We have talked about the different types of players below to help you understand how it affects the choice of players in the auction process.

Types of players in IPL Auction

Here are the categories into which IPL players are divided:

1. Indian capped players: Capped players are cricketers who have appeared for the Indian national team and played for the country’s ‘cap’.
2. Uncapped players: As can be inferred from the scope of capped players, uncapped players are the ones who have not yet played for their national side.
3. Foreign or overseas players: These are cricketers who are not Indian nationals. They can be both uncapped or capped.

How Many Teams Will Participate in the IPL Auction 2022

Until last season, IPL featured eight teams representing different cities of India. Here are the names of the two teams along with the IPL seasons they have won.

Team	Won IPL in
Chennai Super Kings	2010, 2011, 2018, 2021
Delhi Capitals	–
Kolkata Knight Riders	2012, 2014
Mumbai Indians	2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020
Punjab Kings	–
Rajasthan Royals	2008
Royal Challengers Bangalore	–
Sunrisers Hyderabad	2016

However, right after the 14th IPL season in 2021, the BCCI conducted auctions for two new teams that saw interests from 17-18 parties. The participants included industrialists, venture capitalists, and sports bigshots from across the world, such as the Adanis, Goenkas, Jindals, and the owner of the heavyweight English football club, Manchester United.

Thus, from this season onwards, the IPL will have ten teams participating in the auction, and facing off against each other in the two-months long cricket league.

New Teams

The auction for the two new teams was held in October 2021, and created a record of sorts with one team being sold for almost one billion dollars. The two new franchises in the IPL are:

1. Lucknow Super Giants: Successfully bought by the salt-to-power conglomerate, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, the team went off the block at a whopping price of ₹7,090 crores ($933 million approx). The purchase created quite a buzz in the sporting circles, and further underscored the massive popularity that IPL has achieved over the years.
2. Ahmedabad: The team was bought by the private equity fund, CVC Capital Partners, who have global experience in the sports business and were also associated with Formula One and several football leagues in the past. The team was sold for ₹5,625 crores.

The Ahmedabad-based franchise is yet to announce their brand name and logo, but word about it is expected soon.

Spending Limit of Every Team

Each team is allowed to spend up to ₹90 crores for the IPL auction this season, a ₹5 crore increase from the last season. This IPL purse limit is applicable to every team, and includes the salaries that will be paid to retained players.

Now, that we know the basics of the budget limit and how many teams will participate in the IPL auction, let’s discuss the rules for the mega auction.

Important IPL Auction Rules & Process for Placing Bets

The auction is a two-day process where the auctioneer calls out the names of every player in the auction list and invites bids for him, turn by turn. The player is sold to the team with the highest bid.

According to the latest BCCI announcement, the current season’s auction list has a total of 590 players – 228 capped, 355 uncapped, and 7 from associate nations. Out of the 590 players, 370 are Indian and 220 are foreign players.

No doubt that IPL auctions are a thrill to track, but they are also quite technical in nature. To help you understand the process in detail and place better bets, we have outlined the most important rules and terms of the IPL auction below:

#1 Squad limit and number of foreign players

Each team can have a squad of 18 to 25 players. The team can have a maximum of eight foreign players, but can only play up to four foreign players in the Playing XI. There is no limit to the number of Indian capped players a team can have in its squad or playing XI.

Here’s a table to give you a glimpse of how many team positions are open in each team after retention (more on retention in the next section) with number of available foreign slots listed separately. Remember, that the squad can have a maximum of only 25 players.

#2 Retention rule

What if the team does not want to let go of its star player? Or players?

Perhaps one of the most important rules for teams, this rule allows the team to retain up to four players before the auction begins. The teams can retain not more than two overseas players out of the four allowed to be retained. There is no upper limit on retaining capped Indian players.

However, this season sees two new teams entering the fray who do not have any previous squad advantage. To give them an equal footing, the BCCI has allowed them to pick three players from the player pool before the auction.

(Please note: All salaries are in INR crores)

This rule prescribes a minimum salary for the retained players that gets deducted from the IPL purse of ₹90 crores available for the auctions (this also applies to the new teams). If the teams wish to pay more than the fixed salary, then the actual salary gets deducted from the purse. However, if the teams wish to pay a salary lower than the prescribed salary, the prescribed salary gets deducted to calculate the IPL purse balance and not the actual lower salary.

The more you retain, the lesser you get to spend in the auctions. The retention rule is a boon for teams looking forward to revamping their squad by buying new players in the auction process.

Bettors should remember that teams with bigger purses have better chances of bagging better players as they can bid more for every player. However, it is also important to note that the performance of retained players is time-tested and can be predicted easier than players who join the team new while placing bets.

You can access the complete list of players retained by each team, their salaries (in INR crores) mentioned in brackets, and final purse balance on the IPL website.

#3 RTM rule

The RTM rule, or Right to Match rule, allows a team to buy back its player (which it had not retained) from the auction pool even if some other team has won the bid for that player.

For example, consider that Mumbai Indians released Rohit Sharma into the common pool, and Delhi Capitals won his bid for ₹20 crores. Mumbai Indians can exercise their RTM card and get back Rohit Sharma by paying the bid price of ₹20 crores even though Delhi Capitals won the auction. Teams follow such tactics when they want to retain a player over and above the retention limit allowed by the BCCI.

Teams usually get two RTM cards that can be exercised during the course of the auction.
However, considering that two new teams are joining the IPL this season, this rule has been scrapped for this IPL auction to avoid any bias in favour of the existing teams.

#4 Replacements

Teams often need replacements during the course of the tournament when their players get injured or are not in a position to play. The need for replacements will possibly be higher in the current scenario of COVID-19.

Replacements can be signed by teams only from the pool of players who were eligible for the auction. No other players can be signed as replacements.

Thus, it is a good idea to keep a tab on upcoming but unsold players too, as part of your online IPL betting strategy.

#5 Base price categories

The IPL auction process gives every player the freedom to set their own base price. Base price is essentially a price below which the players cannot be sold in the auction. The bids for all the players starts from their base price.

Players can have a base price anywhere between ₹10 lakhs to ₹2 crores. 17 Indian players and 31 foreign players have registered themselves with a base price of ₹2 crores.

Schedule of the IPL Auction 2022

The 15th IPL auction will be conducted by BCCI in Bengaluru on 12th & 13th February. There are broadly three rounds in the auction process:

Round 1: The capped players, also mostly the most experienced cricketers, are auctioned in this round.

Round 2: After capped players, the names of uncapped players are put out to be auctioned. This is an important stage as a lot of young talent can be grabbed by the teams if they have made the right analysis before the auction begins. For example, players like Navdeep Saini, who now also represents the Indian national side, came to the limelight after being picked up by Delhi in 2017.

Round 3: The last round of the auction, the accelerated auction round is where the list of unsold players is circulated among the teams and based on their response, a second round of auction is held for such players.

Read about top IPL offers.

Top Players to Look Forward to in IPL Auction 2022

As you prepare to place bets during the IPL auction, keep a note of these top-ranking players who are generating a lot of interest for the auction season:

1. Pat Cummins: IPL is all about scoring big runs in minimum balls. With an amazing batting strike rate of 166.07, the Australian cricketer has always been in demand. He went under the hammer for ₹15.50 crores in 2020 and we expect him to draw the limelight this time too.
2. R Ashwin: The right-handed spinner plays exceptionally well in the IPL and has pulled miraculous wins for his team in the past seasons. With 145 wickets under his belt and a commendable bowling economy of 6.91, the bowler also has a superb captaincy experience and consistently ranks among the top 10 bowlers in the IPL.
3. Faf du Plessis: The South-African batsman did a splendid job with the bat, and played a key role in helping the Chennai Super Kings get the title in 2021. He scored the second highest runs in the 2021 season (633 runs), while hitting 60 fours and 23 sixes. We expect him to get interest from teams for his hard-hitting skills that play a crucial role in T20 matches.
4. David Warner: There’s a lot of buzz around the Australian batting bigshot emerging as the most expensive player this season, and good reason for it too. Warner led Sunrisers to their first ever IPL victory in 2016 with an average-ranking team, and has scored one of the highest runs in the IPL so far.

Most expensive players in IPL 2021

Studying previous records is an excellent way to analyse prices and determine how high the bids can go in the upcoming IPL auctions. Knowledge of the high-bid fetchers also helps you place better bets while betting on the IPL auction events.

Here is a list of top 7 players that fetched the highest bids last season:

Player	Bought by	Price (in ₹ crores)
Chris Morris	Rajasthan Royals	16.25
Kylie Jamieson	Royal Challengers Bangalore	15.00
Glenn Maxwell	Royal Challengers Bangalore	14.25
Jhye Richardson	Punjab Kings	14.00
Krishnappa Gowtham	Chennai Super Kings	9.25
Riley Meredith	Punjab Kings	8.00
Moeen Ali	Chennai Super Kings	7.00

Player	Bought by	In Season	Price (in ₹ crores)
Chris Morris	Rajasthan Royals	2021	16.25
Yuvraj Singh	Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals)	2015	16.00
Pat Cummins	Kolkata Knight Riders	2020	15.50
Kylie Jamieson	Royal Challengers Bangalore	2021	15.00
Ben Stokes	Rising Pune Super Giants	2017	14.50
Glenn Maxwell	Royal Challengers Bangalore	2021	14.25
Yuvraj Singh	Royal Challengers Bangalore	2014	14.00
Jhye Richardson	Punjab Kings	2021	14.00
Dinesh Karthik	Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals)	2014	12.50
Ben Stokes	Rajasthan Royals	2018	12.50