Kavya Maran, owner of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) franchise, was one of the most vocal during the meeting between IPL franchise owners and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on July 31. Maran urged the BCCI to allow maximum foreign player retentions ahead of IPL 2025.
The meeting saw owners and officials of all the franchises attend either in person or virtually, in the case of Akash Ambani, who owns Mumbai Indians.
Kavya Maran of SRH advised the IPL to allow a minimum of seven retentions or Right to Match (RTM) options in the IPL 2025 auction.
“We can use it as four retentions and two RTMS, or all six retentions, or all six RTMS and so on. The choice on whether a retention or RTM is used should be with the franchise based on discussions with the player.
There have been numerous instances in the past where a player has preferred to go to the auction when he has felt that the retention amount is on the lower side. There have also been instances where multiple players have felt that they should be the first retention, and if not retained as first, they have asked to be put in the auction instead. To avoid this, we can give the players the chance to either be retained or RTM at the market discovered price, ensuring that the player is not disgruntled about the retention price,” Maran said as per Cricbuzz.
SRH owner Kavya Maran urged the BCCI to remove the cap on foreign player retention.
“Each team is built differently and the core strengths of various squads are different. Some have strong overseas players, some have strong capped Indian players, and some strong uncapped players. In our case, we have a strong core of overseas players. The number of capped/uncapped/overseas players retained should be at the discretion of the franchise and not restricted. For example, we can retain four overseas and two capped Indians or three overseas and three uncapped Indians and so on,” she said.
Last time, the BCCI permitted the teams to retain a maximum of two foreign players.
Kavya Maran advocates for sanctions against players who withdraw after the IPL auction
The SRH CEO stated that franchises devote significant work and resources to developing their teams, and players who withdraw after low bids cause havoc, disrupting team balance and combinations.
She brought up the issue during a meeting between IPL club owners and BCCI officials in Mumbai on Wednesday, July 31.
“After being selected in the auction, if a player doesn’t come to play the season for any reason apart from injury, he should be banned. The franchises put in a lot of effort into the auction to form their combinations. If a player goes for a low amount in the auction, and subsequently doesn’t turn up, it affects the combination and the balance of the side. There have been many instances of overseas players not turning up for this reason,” she added.
Furthermore, Maran argued that retired players should not be categorized as uncapped but should enter the IPL auction instead.
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