The meeting between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and the owners of IPL franchises took place on Wednesday, where various discussions and demands were exchanged ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, set to occur later this year.
Kavya Kalanithi Maran, the CEO of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and finalists of the IPL 2024 season, presented several proposals regarding player retentions, auction purse, and the frequency of mega auctions.
What were SRH owner Kavya Maran’s demands ahead of IPL 2025 Mega Auction?
Increase player retentions and Right to Match options to SIX
According to a Cricbuzz report, one of Maran’s primary demands was to increase player retentions and Right to Match (RTM) options to six ahead of the mega auction.
“There have been numerous instances in the past where a player has preferred to go to the auction when he has felt that the retention amount is on the lower side. There have also been instances where multiple players have felt that they should be the first retention, and if not retained as first, they have asked to be put in the auction instead. To avoid this, we can give the players the chance to either be retained or RTM at the market-discovered price, ensuring that the player is not disgruntled about the retention price,” the SRH CEO said.
Justifying her suggestion to increase retentions to six, Maran added, “If only retentions are allowed, there is a good possibility that franchises will pay their retained players more than the retention value through side contracts. But with RTMs, a player gets the market price in the auction within the restrictions of the purse, and this will ensure that the purse decides and restricts the purchasing power of all franchises and not the bank balance of the franchise. It will also ensure transparency and maintain the integrity of a brand as prestigious as the IPL.”
Remove cap on foreign players that can be retained
Maran suggested scrapping the limit on retaining foreign players, which was restricted to two last time, as it affects teams whose core is constructed around foreign players.
“Each team is built differently, and the core strengths of various squads are different. Some have strong overseas players, some have strong capped Indian players, and some strong uncapped players. In our case, we have a strong core of overseas players. The number of capped/uncapped/overseas players retained should be at the discretion of the franchise and not restricted. For example, we can retain four overseas and two capped Indians or three overseas and three uncapped Indians and so on,” she explained.
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Ban players who pull out of the tournament and do not show commitment
SRH was very upset with Wanindu Hasaranga, who pulled out of IPL 2024 citing injury reasons. The franchise believes he pulled out due to a low bid at the auction of 1.5 crore INR compared to his previous salary of over 10 crore INR with RCB.
“After being selected in the auction, if a player doesn’t come to play the season for any reason apart from injury, he should be banned,” Maran stated.
Many considered SRH’s bid for Hasaranga at the mini auction to be a “steal” as the Sri Lankan allrounder was picked up at such a low price. By him refusing to show up to the tournament, SRH had to forego that advantage.
“The franchises put in a lot of effort into the auction to form their combinations. If a player goes for a low amount in the auction and subsequently doesn’t turn up, it affects the combination and the balance of the side. There have been many instances of overseas players not turning up for this reason,” she added.
BCCI should not decide salary cap of retained players
Maran also raised an issue regarding money cut from the franchise’s auction amount based on the number of players retained.
“The money deducted from the overall salary cap for pre-auction retentions must be an overall pot based on the number of players retained and should not be individual amounts for first retention, second retention, and so on.”
The BCCI had set a retention policy stating that the first retained player will have a salary up to 14 crores, the second retention 10 crores, and 7 crores for the third retention, and so on.
“The franchise should have the discretion of how they split the amount among the retained players. This will prevent situations of conflict where players feel that they are of the same calibre but one player gets a higher amount while the other gets a lower amount based on pre-assigned brackets. This will also eliminate the potential for off-contract payments.”
Retired players like MS Dhoni should come to auction and not be treated as uncapped players
While she did not take MS Dhoni’s name, it was hinted that retired players such as the former India skipper, who plays for CSK, should not be treated as uncapped players during retention.
“Senior players have immense value in the IPL. They bring experience and some also bring brand value. By restricting their value to the uncapped amount, we are disrespecting the player and his value. Some retired players can go for much more in the auction than being retained as uncapped pre-auction.”
“When new uncapped players get more money in the auction, it sets a wrong precedent to allow senior players to be retained as uncapped. Let the auction dictate the value and calibre of the retired player, thereby respecting their contribution to the game over the years,” she concluded.
During the meeting, it was believed that KKR’s Shah Rukh Khan agreed with several points Kavya Maran had raised.