IPL 2025 – Two-year ban for international players who come out after being selected in the auction

International players who make themselves unavailable for the IPL season after being bought in the auction without valid reasons, will henceforth be punished with a two-year ban. Apart from that, the minimum auction price tags for international players will be the “lowest final price” – of INR 18 crore (US$ 2.1 million approx.) – or “highest auction price in the main auction”.

In a document shared with franchises listing the final rules, the IPL said: “Any player who registers [an] auction and after being selected in the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, he will be banned from participating in the IPL/IPL auction for two seasons.” The only exception, said the governing body, would be “injury/medical condition, which will have to be confirmed by the [player’s] home board”.

‘Big money’ for overseas players in small auctions

The IPL has also agreed to the franchises’ proposal to make it mandatory for international players to register for the major auctions. They say this will prevent players and their agents from trying to get big money during the mini-auctions, when teams are often willing to shell out large sums of money to fill certain holes in their squad.

To combat this, the IPL has adopted a two-pronged strategy. First, a foreign player will not be allowed to register for a mini-auction if he did not register for a previous major auction. “Any international player will have to register for the main auction. If the player does not register he will have to miss out on the next mini auction. It will only be left in case of injury/medical condition which must be confirmed by the [player’s] home board before the big auction.”

The IPL also decided to charge what it called a “huge fee” to overseas players in the mini-auctions.

“Any auction fee for an international player in the mini-auction will be less than the final maximum price [of INR 18 crore] or the highest bid amount in the grand auction,” the IPL said in the document. “In case the highest bid amount in the grand auction is 20 crs [INR 20 crore]then 18 crs [INR 18 crore] it will be the title. If the highest bid amount in the main auction is 16 crs [INR 16 crore] then the cap will be 16 crs [INR 16 crore].

The rule going forward is that player auctions will continue as normal until the player is sold, and the final auction price will be charged to the auction fund. The incremental amount in excess of INR 16 or 18 crore, as the case may be, will be credited to BCCI. The increased amount credited to the BCCI will be used for the welfare of the players.”