Tie-breaker explained: How closed-door bidding will settle IPL auction ties

A tie in cricket leads to a Super Over; in football, to a potential penalty shootout. And in the IPL auction? It could trigger a silent, closed-door bidding war - a scenario largely possible in a mini-auction, like the one set to unfold in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (December 16).

In the past, players such as Kieron Pollard and Shane Bond (in 2010) and Ravindra Jadeja (in 2012) were snapped up through tie-break secret bids, but the rules governing such situations have since been updated.

Whether there will be a tie-break situation in Abu Dhabi can only be a matter of conjecture, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has elaborated the rules in a recent communique to the franchises. Unlike in the past, there are now 10 teams, and the BCCI has explained that there may be situations where multiple teams are involved in the race for a single player, all intent on buying him but without sufficient funds.

Thus go the rules:

a) one Franchise makes a bid for a player that is the final bid that it can make for the player - i.e. the Franchise does not have sufficient remaining balance on its 2026 Salary Cap to make the immediately next bid for the player once the applicable bidding increment is applied (the "Last Bid"), and

(b) no other Franchise then makes a higher bid for the player pursuant and

(c) at least one other Franchise could have made the Last Bid but, due to lack of sufficient remaining balance on its 2026 Salary Cap, is not able to make the immediately next bid for the player once the applicable bidding increment is applied, the auctioneer shall then ask those Franchise(s) whether they wish to make a matching bid for the player of the same amount as the Last Bid (the "Matching Bid")

If no franchise makes a Matching Bid, the auctioneer will declare the player "sold" to the franchise who made the Last Bid.

If one or more franchise does make a Matching Bid for the player, the auctioneer will declare the player "sold" at a League Fee for 2026 in the amount of the Last Bid and will invoke the tiebreak procedure to determine which franchise will sign the player for 2026.

The tiebreak procedure will be as follows: BCCI will invite each franchise who made a Matching Bid for the player along with the franchise who made the Last Bid to each submit a silent written bid (the "Tiebreak Bid") on a form to be provided by BCCI.

The Tiebreak Bid will indicate the amount, payable in one instalment, in Indian rupees that the franchise is prepared to pay to BCCI (not the player) in order to secure the player's services for the IPL 2026 season.

The amount of the Tiebreak Bid is separate from and in addition to the amount of the Last Bid or the amount of the Matching Bid as appropriate, both of which constitute the bid for the player. The Tiebreak Bid is the separate amount, which the franchise is prepared to pay to BCCI and is not deducted from the relevant franchise's salary cap. There is no limit on the amount of the Tiebreak Bid.

BCCI will then open the written Tiebreak Bids and the player will be awarded to the franchise who has made the highest Tiebreak Bid. If two or more highest Tiebreak Bids are equal, then only those highest bidders will be invited to repeat the process until there is a winner. The Tiebreak Bid amount will not be announced.

The winning franchise will enter into a 2026 standard form IPL Player Contract with the player with a League Fee in the amount of its Last Bid or Matching Bid as appropriate and will commit to pay to BCCI within 30 days of the Player Auction the amount of its Tiebreak Bid (or highest Tiebreak Bid if there were multiple rounds of bidding).