IPL retention 2022: How many players can IPL teams retain ahead of IPL 2022 auction?

IPL retention 2022 policy: There is no hiding to the fact that a mega auction is slated to happen before the next IPL season.

Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, a mega auction would have happened before the recently concluded 14th season of the Indian Premier League.

With a couple of IPL seasons been played amidst a global pandemic, it is now time for a mega auction which will be all the more special after the addition of a couple of teams in Lucknow and Ahmedabad.

The presence of two new teams means that IPL 2022 auction will be held on similar lines as was the case in IPL 2016 auction – when Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions had been added as replacements for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for two years.

Therefore, Lucknow and Ahmedabad will get to pick three players (two Indians and one overseas) each (one by one) before participating in the auction. For now, it remains unknown as to which team will get to pick a player first.

If highest team price will become a criteria for the same, Lucknow (INR 7,090 crore) will get an opportunity to pick a player before Ahmedabad (INR 5,625). Furthermore, it is also unsure if these teams will be able to select players from the list of released players by other teams or from an additional elongated list of players comprising of fresh names for IPL 2022 auction.

IPL retention 2022 policy

Talking about the all-important retention policy which will affect the current eight teams, each team will get to retain a total of four players for the 15th season of the IPL. According to ESPNcricinfo, these four could be formed in combinations of three Indians and one overseas or two Indians and two overseas.

Will there be Right-to-Match cards in IPL 2022 auction?

Readers must note that the previous mega auction had an option for teams to retain as many as five players which included a facility of using Right-to-Match cards during the auction. If reports doing the rounds are to be believed, there won’t be any provision of Right-to-Match cards in IPL 2022.

Hence, four players retained before the auction will form the core of a team provided it doesn’t buy any other player of the current squad in the auction.

IPL auction 2022 purse for teams

The last mega auction, which had happened in 2018, had witnessed franchises entering the auction with a purse of INR 80 crore. Over the last three years, the same purse increased by INR 5 crore to INR 85 crore. As far as the purse for IPL 2022 auction is concerned, it is expected to be INR 90 crore.