Since the time two new IPL franchises have been announced, everyone is wondering about the players’ retention rules before the next season because it will go a long way in determining if the existing 8 IPL teams will be able to retain their core or not.
According to a report published in ESPNcricinfo based on the information from reliable sources, all existing IPL teams will be given the option of retaining as many as 4 players from their existing squads.
If they want, they can retain 3 Indian players and one overseas player or 2 Indian players and 2 overseas players, but at least 2 Indian players will have to be retained if there are 4 retentions and more than 2 overseas players can’t be retained in case of 4 retentions.
New IPL franchises will have the option of special picks before mega auction
Also, the two new IPL franchises will be allowed to have 3 special picks before the mega auction starts. However, it remains to be seen if those special picks are allowed from the next year’s list of registered players in the auction or from the last year’s list.
Players who will be released by their respective franchises will be available as special picks for the new franchises anyway, if they want to sign them.
Apart from deciding the retention rules, BCCI also has to make a decision on the format of the next year’s IPL. It can’t be the format where every team plays every other team twice because the no. of games will increase significantly that way. It will have to be a new format regarding which the IPL governing council will make a decision soon.
IPL 2022 mega auction is scheduled to be held in December this year and it’s going to be a mammoth event in world cricket with the purse of all franchises, including the new ones, expected to be increased from 85 to 90 crore INR.
All the franchise owners will be keeping a keen eye on the ongoing T20 World Cup as well, as the performances of the players in this tournament might affect their valuation in the auction.
