The much coveted franchise-based tournament, Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 11th edition which will see Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals return after serving a suspension for two years for their involvement in the spot-fixing issue, is scheduled to start from April 4, 2018. It will continue till May 31 as per reported by ESPNcricinfo.
The decision was taken at a recent Governing Council meeting earlier this week in New Delhi. However, the final call is due at the next Governing Council meeting slated to take place on November 14.
A proposal got raised in the Council meeting that all the franchises should be allowed to retain as many as three players ahead of the next year’s auction. A decision on the combination of two Indian players and an overseas player or two overseas players and one Indian player would be taken on 14th November which will have representatives from all the eight franchises.
Reportedly, few franchises are not interested in retaining their players, however, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will be able to pick players according to their choice from Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, the two teams that replaced them in the last two tournaments if the proposal gets a green signal from the members of the Governing Council which will MS Dhoni returning to his previous team.
It is also learned that many franchises have proposed for an increase in the maximum purse to Rs 80 crore. However, some franchises are happy with Rs 75 crores.
The decision regarding the increase in the purse is also expected to be taken at the next Governing Council meeting. The retention policy is a good step, as it provides stability to the squad with which the team management can form the rest of the team keeping those players as the base.