From Impact Player rule to increased uncapped retentions: Key points for IPL authorities’ meeting with franchises

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 30 (ANI): The status of Impact player rule, possibility of raising number of uncapped players in each Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise’s retention list are key aspects featured on agenda of a meeting between the league’s top authorities and all the ten franchises on Wednesday.

As per ESPNCricinfo, this meeting will be behind the closed doors and will be taking place in Mumbai at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters. The member of ownership teams will be representing each franchise.

Other significant points which will be up for discussion are: Having mega auction every five years instead of three, the way it is right now, reinstating the right-to-match (RTM) card option at auctions, availability/shortage of overseas players and a limit on total number of retentions.

All these points have been framed by the league after its CEO, Hemang Amin, met various franchises over the last few months in order to get some feedback ahead of the mega auction for next year’s season, as per ESPNCricinfo.

During the previous IPL season this year, there were eight 250-plus totals, including the total of 287 runs posted by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the highest-ever in league’s history. Various critics, players and experts expressed their dissatisfaction with the Impact Player rule, blaming it for such unprecedented six-hitting and for stunting the growth of all-rounders as team’s often chose to use a pure batter/bowler through this role instead of an all-rounder.

This rule was introduced back in 2023 season and allows players to pick an extra specialist batter/bowler depending on the situation. Nine of the ten highest total in league’s history have come after this rule’s introduction, highlighting the freedom, power and flexibility it adds to teams.

Though the rule was meant to expose more Indian, especially uncapped players, it was criticised by players and experts alike this season, with Indian skipper Rohit Sharma even expressing that he was not a big fan of the rule since it did not allow the development of all-rounders, a vital aspect in T20Is for India.

As per ESPNCricinfo, some franchises share this view and want the rule to be scrapped.

Coming to uncapped player retentions, the IPL franchises were allowed to retain a maximum of two uncapped Indians ahead of 2022 mega auction and the two new teams- Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants could have one each.

As uncapped players put in more consistent performances, IPL franchises also devoted more and more resources for their scouting and development. A change could now be coming as franchises have urged the league’s CEO to create a special allowance within main retention pool for uncapped players or increase the number of RTM cards, through which teams can automatically get the player which represented them in the previous season if they match the highest bid placed by a franchise.

During the discussions, it was also understood that the IPL told the teams to incentivise their players financially, considering the teams are earning more than ever. This could be because the league wants to better the salary of a player brought at his base price during an auction, was retained at the same price even though his stature increased with his performances.

Also, there have been various proposals that teams have put up about the overseas players. At least one team has told the IPL that there should be no restriction on retaining the overseas players as long as it is within the overseas cap. So if IPL allows five overall retentions, the franchise should be able to retain five overseas players if it wants.

Some teams have also told the league’s authorities that overseas players have been exploiting mini auctions to get more money and avoid mega auctions where the purse is more equally spread among various teams. During mini auctions, a lot of teams have a core in place already so they are able to spend extravagant amount one or two players. One suggestion on the table is if IPL should make it compulsory to register for mega auctions.

As per a franchise head, IPL is also looking to impose a bidding cap for mini auctions, based on amount that team will set aside for its number one retention pick ahead of the mega auctions. Bidding will not be able to go beyond that number.

For example, if IPL decides that a franchise should pay Rs 20 crores to its highest retained player before a mega auction, then the highest bid at mini auctions could not exceeed that. If there are teams willing to bid more, only then a tie-breaker could come in place, the franchises have suggested.

A tie-breaker was used in earlier auctions, during 2010, a tie-break was designed to be used in smaller auctions, where a smaller purse is in use, to break a deadlock. In IPL history, three players have been brought in using the tie-breaker rule, Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians) and Shane Bond (Kolkata Knight Riders) in 2010, and Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai Super Kings) in 2012.

The ones privy to Wednesday’s meeting have pointed out that while all recommendations and proposals will be put forward by franchises during the meeting, there is no word on if final decisions will be announced by the league right away.