IPL team owners divided over player retention, ‘Impact Player’ rule and other issues after meeting at BCCI headquarters

The Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners were left divided over a host of issues ranging from the mega auction to the ‘Impact Player’ rule following a heated meeting at the BCCI’s Mumbai headquarters on Wednesday

The mega auction is set to be held before the 18th edition of the world’s richest T20 league next year and the BCCI had called for a meeting with the heads of the 10 franchises in the ‘Financial Capital’ to discuss pointers pertaining to the league.

Secretary Jay Shah later stated the had a “constructive dialogue” with the IPL team owners on a variety of subjects, which would then be taken before the IPL Governing Council led by chairman Arun Dhumal for further deliberation. Shah later added that the board would be making a final decision on the matter soon on all the points that were discussed.

“The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday organised a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises on various subjects pertaining to the upcoming season of the IPL,” he said in a release.

“The franchise owners tabled feedback on player regulations and other commercial aspects, including central merchandising, licensing, and gaming. The BCCI will now take these recommendations to the IPL Governing Council for further deliberation and evaluation before formulating the IPL player regulations,” Shah added in the release.

According to the latest developments, the 10 teams will likely not be allowed to retain more than five players with one Right to Match (RTM) card, which gives a franchise the opportunity to match the final bid of a player who was part of their squad in the previous season but had been released into the auction pool later.

Also Read | BCCI suggests increasing IPL player retentions before mega auction: Report

Among the team owners or co-owners who attended the meeting were Shah Rukh Khan from defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders , Kavya Maran from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ness Wadia from Punjab Kings, Sanjiv Goenka with his son Shashwat from Lucknow Super Giants, Kiran Kumar Gandhi and Parth Jindal from Delhi Capitals.

Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur from Rajasthan Royals, Prathamesh Mishra from Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kari Viswanathan and Rupa Gurunath from Chennai Super Kings, Amit Soni from Gujarat Titans while Mumbai Indians’ owners attended it online.

Wadia and SRK had a heated debate on the issue of whether to have a mega auction or not.

However, Parth Jindal, the director of JSW Sports which owns the Delhi Capitals, said there was “no real outcome” from the meeting as the teams looked to stick to their opinions on all the matters discussed.

“No real outcome. It was just to hear all the different perspectives from all the owners and the BCCI has heard us and now they will give us all the rules. Hopefully, by the end of August we will get to know the rules for the next cycle,” Jindal told the reporters at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.

Jindal confirmed there was no consensus among the teams in the context of the number of players they wanted to retain ahead of the mega auction.

“Nothing (on the consensus). Some people want eight to 10, some people want four, some people want six… it’s all up in the air,” he replied.

Jindal confirmed there was a debate whether there should be an auction in the IPL at all, while adding that Delhi Capitals are not against having an auction.

“There was, yeah, I was surprised. There was a debate. Some people said that there should not be a mega auction at all. There should be only smaller auctions,” Jindal said.

“I’m not in that camp. I feel that it (auction) evens the playing field and it’s very good for everyone. It makes the IPL what it is. It makes it competitive. It makes it an even-playing field,” he added.

“We’re not on the same page on many issues. But I think the BCCI, in their wisdom, will decide. I think the president and secretary will decide,” he said.

Jindal also expressed the opinion that Delhi Capitals are against the Impact Player rule while providing his views.

“Impact player rule, again, (there were) different views from different people. Some people want it because it gives a chance to young players to play in the IPL. Some people don’t want it because it is detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of the development of all-rounders so it’s a mixed bag,” he said.

“I’m in the second camp. I don’t want it. I prefer the game as it is — 11 versus 11. I think all-rounders are very important. You have different players who don’t bowl in the IPL or don’t bat in the IPL because of this rule, which is not good for Indian cricket,” Jindal said.

Punjab Kings’ Wadia hoped the decisions will be taken in favour of “all stakeholders” while adding that the matter of overseas players’ availability was also discussed.

“We discussed several points, auctions, players, uncapped players. It was a good meeting, happy to be having a discussion with the BCCI and whatever will be done will be in favour of the fans, players and all the stakeholders,” Wadia told the media.

With PTI inputs