The BCCI are looking into the possibility of putting all players in the auction pool for the 10th edition of the IPL in 2017.
The Times of India reports a majority of IPL franchises want the BCCI to change the rule that states all teams can retain five players and keep a sixth by exercising the right to match the highest amount bid for a player at the annual auction.
This rule was signed as a three-year contract only last year.
Most teams now want this rule changed and have suggested that all players should go under the hammer and that every team should be given ‘five matching cards’, which would give them the right to match the bid amounts for a maximum of five of their team players for retaining them.
If this happens, marquee players like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and David Warner could all go back into the auction next year.
According to reports this suggestion will be discussed by the BCCI in the coming days. Some teams have resented this proposal and are in favour of continuing with the existing policy of retaining five players. Some teams want to retain more than six players to maintain team bonding and continuity.
Teams who want the change say that a new system would protect them from giving into the players’ disputes over salaries. The franchises would not need to talk to the players at all and if they are keen on retaining some players, they can buy them back at the auction. This system, they feel, will minimise the malpractice of paying the players ‘under the table’.
In 2014, the BCCI wanted to allow eight cricketers to be retained by every team (five Indians and three foreigners) but was forced to scale down the number after severe protests by several teams.
Incidentally, according to the original agreement signed between the BCCI and the team owners in 2008, all the players were supposed to be back in the auction pool after three years. This rule was changed by some powerful officials and in 2011, teams were allowed to retain four cricketers with a maximum of three Indian players.
