Sports News
IPL still undecided on player retention
Governing Council expected to finalise details in a fortnight on a host of issues, including salary cap, number of teams, right to match at auction
The question over the number of players who can be retained by franchises, and the number of teams in the Indian Premier League from the 11th season, remained unsolved after a long meeting of all the IPL stakeholders in Mumbai.
The meeting saw top management representatives or owners of all the eight original teams spell out their suggestions with regard to the next year’s IPL auction to the IPL Governing Council members in the presence of the BCCI office-bearers, executives and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.
“The meeting went off very well. Actually the whole idea was to invite the actual owners of the teams and solicit their views of the IPL,” IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, who chaired the meeting, said after the meeting that lasted nearly two hours.
“There were a number of issues including the number of players, salary cap of the players, the playing squad [numbers], and the total number of the teams. All these issues were discussed, other than the venue and dates for the auction and the inaugural ceremony.
“I think in a fortnight the Governing Council will finalise the details. Whether the IPL should have eight or ten teams was also discussed. A majority of the franchises’ view was we should stick to eight teams.”
With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) returning to the IPL fold after serving their two-year suspension, the representatives of both teams made a request that they be given the first right over players who were signed with them for the IPL 2015.
While some of the team owners backed their claim, The Hindu understands that a group of owners, led by a team owner who’s a celebrity, opposed the idea. He stressed that all teams should be treated equally.
Shukla, however, remained non-committal. “Right now, I can’t say anything until we take the decision about retention and right to match,” he said.
“A majority of the franchises were of the view that retention or right to match should be given, so we will keep that aspect in mind.”
When asked about the number of players who are likely to be retained by each team, Shukla said: “We have taken their opinion. Somebody said three players, somebody said five players, somebody said more than five players, somebody said one player. So, majority we will take into account.”
