The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is most likely to change the retention rule for the Indian Premier League (IPL) before the mega auction taking place between December 2024 and February 2025. The board will likely give permits for teams to retain up to 6 players. Before this, during the 2022 mega auctions, the franchises were allowed to retain only 4 players.
IPL’s most controversial impact player rule will be there for the upcoming season of the tournament. Apart from that, there are reports from cricbuzz that former Indian head coach is about to join Rajasthan Royals with the role of their new head coach for the upcoming seasons.
“It appears that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unlikely to do away with the mega auction, despite some franchises advocating for its removal at a recent meeting between IPL franchise owners and BCCI officials. However, the Board may permit teams to retain up to six players, potentially allowing for a combination of retention and Right to Match (RTM) options. Previously in 2022, the BCCI had only allowed four retentions with no RTM provision” reported Cricbuzz.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) CEO Kavya Maran had earlier requested BCCI to take action against those players who opt out of seasons with no valid reasons. The 2024 IPL runner-ups are among several franchises going through this issue for multiple seasons.
“After being selected in the auction, if a player doesn’t come to play the season for any reason apart from injury, he should be banned. The franchises put in a lot of effort into the auction to form their combinations. If a player goes for a low amount in the auction, and subsequently doesn’t turn up, it affects the combination and the balance of the side. There have been many instances of overseas players not turning up for this reason,” said Kavya Maran.
“The franchise should have the discretion of how they split the amount among the retained players. This will prevent situations of conflict where players feel that they are of the same calibre but one player gets a higher amount, while the other lower based on pre-assigned brackets. This will also eliminate the potential of off-contract payments,” she added.
