Apart from several media articles hinting that the BCCI may be preparing to announce the player retention policy before the upcoming IPL auction, a video of the iconic MS Dhoni arriving in India after a workation has gone viral on the internet quite recently. Earlier this month, the former Indian cricketer was seen attending an NFL match in Michigan – USA with his mates.
This led to further speculation of course on Dhoni and IPL, especially after he decided to quit as captain of Chennai Super Kings and was replaced literally by Ruturaj Gaikwad as the new captain.
As reported by The Indian Express, the BCCI is likely to allow the franchises of IPL, which includes 10 teams, to have the option of retaining a maximum of five players each to ease matters for them.
The BCCI had also engaged with the IPL team owners to solicit their opinion on the proposed player retention strategy earlier this year. There, however, was significant discord among the franchise members with some of them advocating for more retentions as they were not prepared to release certain top players for the sake of continuity.
‘The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday held an insightful session with the ten franchises owners on various issues related to the forthcoming season of the IPL,’ BCCI secretary Jay Shah stated in the month of August.
‘The franchises provided comments on players and other issues such as central merchandising and licensing and wagering activities. These recommendations will be presented to the IPL Governing Council by the BCCI for further consideration before developing the regulations pertaining to players in the IPL,’ he included.
Moreover, there will also not be a Right to Match (RTM) card that granted a franchise the option to purchase a player, whom they had previously released to the auction pool, by remitting the amount of the winning bid. What this implies is that it will be a stringent auction hence the team line ups could vary much from what they were in the year IPL 2024.
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders were reportedly opposed to a mega auction and drew the support of CSK, Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals against it.
