The Indian Premier League is into its 11th year in 2018 and there are a lot of rumours circulating regarding whether players could be retained. A lot of individual players, like Kohli and Dhoni have become fan-favourites in their respective IPL cities and the thought of them playing for another team has certainly had fans sweating.
Now according to reports, IPL owners are opposed to the idea of retaining players for the 2018 auction.
“We are not too convinced with the idea because retention kills the chances of the big names being available for auction. Also, the whole idea of the auction came from the transfer window in football. And if you look at them, every player is free to move to whichever club they feel like according to their preference and the financial offers,” said one franchise owner.
“If retention is applicable even in the mega-auction, then what sort of a fresh auction is it? We will surely bring this matter up with other owners and the GC during the workshop. As of now, we would like to believe that the old decision stands and all players will be available at the auction,” justified the official further.
A few days ago, the council meeting, BCCI officials proposed the idea of teams retaining up to 3 players before the auctions going down next year. There will also be another meeting on November 14th to discuss other issues like maximum purse and right to match cards.
Teams like CSK and Royals are making a comeback after a two-year suspension and will be keen on retaining some of the stars in their team. A few owners aren’t too keen on the idea so it will be interesting to see if Kohli ends up for RCB or playing for KXIP or DD next season onwards.
