The Indian Premier League’s Governing Council cleared the decks for MS Dhoni’s return to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which will make a comeback to the league in the 2018 edition after a two-year suspension.
The IPL Governing Council allowed CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR), which was also banned for alleged spot-fixing and betting, to retain the players which were on their 2015 roster. Cricketers who were part of Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions – teams that will now be discontinued – in IPL 2017 will also be part of the player pool available to CSK and RR. Thus, Dhoni, who had played for the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in the last two editions, can now return to and possibly lead Chennai’s squad.
Each franchise participating in the 2018 edition can secure up to 5 players by virtue of a combination of Player Retention (Pre Player Auction) and Right to Match (RTM), it was announced. RTM refers to a franchise’s right to match the highest bidder for a player during the player auction.
Here’s a look at the list of guidelines for the upcoming IPL auction. The player retention event will be held in Mumbai on Thursday.
Player Retention Policy
An IPL franchise can secure up to 5 players by virtue of a combination of Player Retention (Pre Player Auction) and Right to Match (RTM) during the player auction next year.
- Each team can make a maximum of either 3 retentions or use 3 RTM.
- If there is no retention before player auction then franchises can have up to 3 RTM.
Following will apply irrespective of player retention or Right to Match (RTM)
- Maximum number of 3 Capped Indian players.
- Maximum number of 2 Overseas players.
- Maximum number of 2 Uncapped Indian players.
The player pool available for CSK and RR for retention/RTM will be the players who played for them respectively in IPL 2015 and who were part of RPS and GL squads in IPL 2017.
Salary Cap
The maximum amount of money that each franchise can spend on players in the upcoming edition has increased by Rs 14 crore since the previous season. While last year, teams were allowed to spend Rs 66 crore, each IPL franchise has a cap of Rs 80 crore in 2018. The amount will be increased to Rs 82 crore in 2019 and Rs 85 crore in 2020.
The minimum that each franchise is obligated to spend will be 75 percent of the salary cap for each season. For instance, in 2018, each team must spend Rs 63,75,00,000 when acquiring players.
Player Retention Price Guideline
Teams have the option of spending either Rs 33 crore, Rs 21 crore or Rs 12.5 crore on retaining players.
If a team retains a total of three players then one cricketer’s salary will be capped at Rs 15 crore, the second’s at Rs 11 crore and the third’s at Rs 7 crore. If a team retains two players, their salary caps will be Rs 12.5 crore and Rs 8.5 crore. However, if a team retains just one player, his salary will be capped at Rs 12.5 crore.
- The IPL has imposed a salary cap of Rs 3 crore on every uncapped player.
- The deduction from salary purse in case of retention will be determined on the basis of guideline price or actual price (whichever is higher).
Minimum Auction Reserve Price
The reserve price of uncapped and capped players have also undergone changes.
For cricketers who are yet to play an international game, the reserve prices of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 20 lakh and Rs 30 lakh have increased by Rs 10 lakh. Thus, an uncapped player who was earlier in the Rs 10 lakh category will now have a reserve price of Rs 20 lakh.
For international cricketers who were in the Rs 30 lakh category, the reserve price has increased to Rs 50 lakh and those with a base price of Rs 50 lakh will have a starting price of Rs 75 lakh. The capped players with Rs 1 Cr, Rs 1.5 Cr and Rs 2 Cr reserve prices remain unchanged.
Franchise Squad Size
Each franchise must have between 18 and 25 players, including a maximum of eight foreign cricketers.
Follow The Quint for more stories on IPL 2018.