The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council meeting was held in Mumbai on November 22 to discuss hosts of issues including the salary cap of players, number of teams, right to match and player retention at the IPL auction. The meeting was held in the presence of the BCCI office-bearers, executives and the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators.
The important topic of the meeting was the player retentions as two teams, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), are making a comeback in the 11th edition of IPL after they were banned for two years following the IPL spot-fixing scandal that rocked the entire cash-rich tournament.
The IPL Governing Council discussed with top management representatives of all the eight original teams whether to allow franchises to retain players or not during the upcoming IPL auction.
According to an Indian Express report, three teams didn’t want any player retentions while the rest pushed to retain players including CSK and RR who wanted the first right over the players they had signed in 2015.
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The report further stated that the three teams that didn’t want any players to be retained were Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab who desired that all players be placed in the auction pool.
Mumbai Indians wanted to retain five to six players, CSK wanted four, Delhi Daredevils three, Royal Challengers Bangalore five and Sunrisers Hyderabad wanted to retain a single player.
The members, however, failed to arrive at any conclusion in this regard.
IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, who chaired the meeting said,
The meeting went off very well. There were a number of issues including the number of players, salary cap of the players, the playing squad, 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.
When asked about which players the returning franchises CSK and RR could retain, Shukla said,
Right now I can’t say anything because once we take the decision about retention and right to match after then I can tell you. The decision will be taken depending upon the players as well as what the teams agree on.
The eleventh edition of India’s T20 league is scheduled to be held from April 4 to May 31, 2018.
Earlier in September this year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) found a new broadcaster for the IPL 2018. Out of the 24 participants in the media right auction, Star India turned out to be the highest bidder and bagged the broadcasting rights along with the digital rights with a whopping Rs 1,6347.50 crore deal.
