From Right to Match to player retention, all details of Indian Premier League 2018
Mumbai: While the major takeaway from the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council meeting on Wednesday was MS Dhoni’s return to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), there were some other talking points from the decisions regarding the player retentions, salary caps, squad size and more.
Read: Indian Premier League 2018: Which cricketers should teams retain before big auction?
Here’s your one-stop guide about the new IPL regulations:
1) Player retentions:
While it was earlier reported that some of the IPL sides were not in favour player retentions, following the conclusion of IPL Governing Council’s meeting on Wednesday, it was made clear that player retentions are here to stay. The IPL GC along with Committee of Administrators (COA) announced that a team can retain as many as five players mixing retention and Right to Match (RTM).
Read: IPL 2018: Player retention event to be broadcast live on Star Sports
Teams are allowed to retain as many as three players in pre auction via retention or via the usage of RTM cards. If a certain team chooses not to retain any player before the auction, they can use three RTMs during the auction which is likely to take place in February next year. If a team retains three players before auction, then that team can use only two RTMs during players’ auction.
The teams can retain as many as three capped Indian players, two overseas players (maximum), two uncapped Indian players (maximum).
Check out: IPL 2018: Auction, dates, venue, player retention and all you need to know
While there were discussions about Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) – who were suspended from the tournament for two years following the spot-fixing saga – in connection with player retentions, the teams, who are making a comeback to IPL, are allowed to retain players who were a part of their sides in IPL 2015 – for example MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Brendon McCullum etc. (CSK) and Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, James Faulkner (RR) and then were picked by Gujarat Lions (GL) and Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) – who replaced CSK and RR in the two-year period – via draft. In this case, RR can’t use RTM to bring back Shane Watson as he was not picked either by RPS or GL and instead played for Royal Challengers Bangalore. So, RCB, if it decides not to retain him, it can still have him back via RTM.
2) Salary cap:
The IPL teams have received a shot in the arm as the salary caps have been raised from Rs. 66 crores to Rs. 80 crores (in IPL 2018), Rs. 82 crores (in IPL 2019) and Rs, 85 crores (in IPL 2020). The teams can spend 75 per cent (minimum) of their salary cap every season.
3) Player retention/s and impact on salary purse:
If a team decides to retain three players before auction, Rs. 33 crores – player 1 Rs. 15 crores, player 2 Rs. 11 crores and player 3 Rs. 7 crores – will be deducted from the team’s salary purse. The team will lose Rs. 21 crores if they retain two players – player 1 Rs. 12.5 crores and player 2 Rs. 8.5 crores – before auction. If a team retains only one player, the salary purse will be deducted by Rs. 12.5 crores. If an IPL franchise decides to retain an uncapped player, Rs. 3 crores will be deducted from their salary purse.
4) Minimum auction reserve price:
Along with team’s salary purse, the minimum auction reserve price will also see a rise from IPL 2018 auctions until it reaches the Rs.1 crore-mark. The earlier reserve price, in the category of uncapped players, of Rs. 10 lakhs is changed to Rs. 20 lakhs, Rs. 20 lakhs is changed to Rs. 30 lakhs and Rs. 30 lakhs is changed to Rs. 40 lakhs.
In case of capped players, the earlier reserve price of Rs. 30 lakhs is moved up to Rs. 50 lakhs and the earlier reserve price of Rs. 50 lakhs is changed to Rs. 75 lakhs.
However, the earlier reserve prices (for capped players) of Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 1.5 crores and Rs. 2 crores have not been changed.
5) Squad size:
Any IPL sides can have as many as 25 players in their squad, with maximum 8 foreign cricketers – out of which only four can be a part of the playing XI. The squad size can be reduced to 18 players.
6) What’s Right to Match (RTM):
In simple terms, if a team decides not to retain a player before the auction, they still can have him in the side using a Right to Match card during the players’ auction. For example: If Mumbai Indians (MI) decide not to retain Harbhajan Singh before the auctions, they can still avail his services by matching the bidding price that’s been offered by some other IPL side during the auction. If, let’s say, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), bid for the veteran Indian off-spinner for Rs. 5 crore, then Mumbai Indians can match KXIP’s bid for Harbhajan using RTM and have him at the Mumbai Indians.
