In a much-needed relief for all the franchises, the governing council of the Indian Premier League is reportedly in favor of letting the teams retain a certain number of players.
With a contract of most of the players expired after the last edition of the league, the upcoming auction is set to be the biggest one since the inaugural one in 2008. However, the franchises are still under a dark cloud as far as the retention policy is concerned as there has been no official word from the board. But the latest report from The Times of India can boost franchise’s hopes of retaining the core of the team as a top-level BCCI official has insisted that there is every possibility of a retention policy.
“The retention policy would be there in all possibility. This is what the majority of franchises want. The only issue we need to thrash out is the number of players who can be retained. We need to work out whether it would be three or five players. For this very purpose, we have called the meeting of franchise owners on November 21 in Mumbai,” the official told the news outlet.
The retention policy, however, is going to be tricky due to the comeback of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. And while the official said that both the franchises will be given first preference, the governing council will be left with no option if the players decide to go to the auction pool.
“The first preference would always remain with RR and CSK. The IPL GC had been clear about it from the beginning. But if these players want to go to the auction pool, then these two franchises can’t do anything about it,” he said.
The official also made it clear that the players’ decision will be paramount regarding whether they want to be retained or want to go to the auction.
“The players would be given the option to decide over continuing with respective franchises or joining the auction pool. It will depend solely on them. Even if a franchise decides to open up its purse for a particular player, it can’t do so against his wishes. If a player has made up his mind to go under the hammer, no one can stop him. He will stay back only if he’s satisfied with the new offer his franchise is making,” he said.
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