IPL teams could be allowed to retain three players for IPL 2018

What's the story?

Ahead of IPL Auction 2018, the eight IPL teams could be allowed to retain three players each according to reports on Cricinfo following the IPL governing council meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. There will be another meeting again next week to discuss player retention, maximum purse and right-to-match-card rules with a final decision to be taken on November 14 with all eight teams being present.

While not all teams are not keen on retaining players, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who will be returning to the tournament after a two-year suspension were both keen on player retention. Depending on the maximum number of players that can be retained, CSK and RR will be able to pick players from Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions, whose squads include the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis.

If the three players retention is made final, a combination of two Indians and an overseas player or vice versa could be retained according to a BCCI official.

In case you didn't know...

Back in 2014, when the retention policy was initially introduced, each team could retain a maximum of five players with a salary cap of INR 60 crore with an amount deducted for each retained player. For the first player, it was INR 12.5 crore, second player 9.5 crore, Player 3 - 7.5 crore and the fourth and fifth player being 5.5 crore and 4 crore.

The right-to-match-card was also available in the 2014 auction where the teams had the first refusal to its players. A team that retained 3-5 players had one card, teams that retained up to two players had two while those who did not retain any had three cards to effectively buy back their player once the bidding process was completed.

The heart of the matter

Ahead of next year's bumper IPL auction, IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin met with representatives of all the teams to gather suggestions ahead of the final plan. The number of players that could be retained, the purse available to each franchise and the right-to-match-card are just some of the issues that need to be addressed.

While some franchises are keen on a purse of INR 80 crore, others are willing to make do with INR 75 crore. The IPL governing council is likely to take a final call at its next meeting. While all these were discussed at the meeting, there is still no clarity on the same.

What's next?

While the current idea was floated in the governing council meeting, the final decision on the number of players each franchise will be able to retain will be made on November 14 with all eight franchises present to deliberate on the rules.

Author's take

With Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals back in the radar, both teams will be looking to retain their former stars that made them so popular. So the fact that they might have the option of choosing three players from either Gujarat Lions or Rising Pune Supergiant certainly makes a lot of sense.

The fact that this is going to be an auction with more players in the auction pool, how many players are being allowed to be retained, how many right to match cards are available and the purse available to each franchise are all things that need to be sorted in the coming months, well ahead of next year's auction so that the teams can prepare accordingly with the Big Bash League and other domestic T20 Leagues coming up.