Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
With the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) underway in India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to have a mega auction later this year for the 2025 season. With the mega auction set to be held in November - December, the number of player retention has become a major talking point.
Seeing this, the BCCI has reportedly invited all 10 franchise owners for a meeting to sought for suggestions in order to increase the number of retained players. According to a report by TOI, quoting BCCI source, the BCCI will host a meeting next week in Ahmedabad for the same.
“Things are at a very nascent stage. The board is seeking recommendations to carry the league forward. Player retention is a major factor in that. Going by the informal discussions, the majority of franchises are in favour of having a provision where they can retain about eight players before the auction,” a BCCI source told Times of India.
“Some feel that it doesn’t make sense if the core of the team is broken so frequently. Franchises have identified that there should be a scope to retain the larger part of the core team. There are a couple of objections to this suggestion. Noting specific has been discussed about the RTM or cap on overseas retentions,” the source further added.
In the last mega auction, only four players were allowed to be retained by the franchises and one player could be bought back by using the Right to Match (RTM) card. Moreover, with this, a franchise could retain a total of five players with a maximum of two overseas options.
The BCCI source further added that there will be some resistance because the franchises would want to retain a bigger pool of players as they look to rebuild their teams. “One must remember that there are 10 teams now and if the number of retentions is increased, then the ‘cream pool’ will be very small. The meeting on April 16 is likely to revolve around these talking points,” he further concluded.
