Ask for a salary increase option, conduct mega auction after every five years other than three and eight RTM options
MUMBAI: In case one of the proposals put forward by the franchises is accepted, Parami News has learnt that a player who was bought at just Rs 30-50 lakh during December’s IPL mega auction could see his salary multiply several times over by his franchise if he performs exceptionally well in IPL 2025.
“The present system does not allow franchises to raise salaries of players they bought at the IPL auction. Like most jobs, no increment here. Suppose a team buys him for Rs 30 lakh, and he does exceedingly well in the tournament; instead of letting go to another side, it should have an option of extending his contract with another fresh contract worth let’s say Rs 3 crore for next year. That will act as a check against poaching.
“High-performing players’ wages should be reviewed by IPL. This would allow teams to keep their best players from last season without being afraid of them demanding release by or trade to other teams. Whereas the increase would be welcomed by players, this will also stop others,” said a franchise official via email.
Other tips given by various franchise representatives in separate meetings with Hemang Amin (CEO), IPL and other BCCI officials are: Have only one mega auction in every five years, let every team need to retain up to five players as maximum, grant all the franchises up to eight right-to-match (RTM) cards and increase the salary purse to about INR 130-140 crores.
The meeting between BCCI owners and IPl towards end of this month at Wankhade Stadium newly refurbished BCCI office will give us clearer indications on what will finally be agreed upon.
Why Mega Auction After Five Years?
“It makes sense therefore, that instead of having these player auctions once in three years we hold them once in every five years so as to ensure that there is continuity, A franchise official told Parami News. This will enable teams to extract the most from players they have bought and nurtured at a very young age.
“This would allow us especially those who have academies at the grassroots level, to invest in player development. For example a new Indian player takes 2-3 years to be moulded and then suddenly goes away in the mega auction after three years. That’s not fair.”
However, while there was some initial speculation that certain franchises might want as many as eight retentions, this figure could be much lower. “It won’t exceed five for sure,” comments one of the sources close to the matter on condition of anonymity with respect to the developments. It remains unclear what happens provided options for RTM come into effect.
Are there 8 RTMs?
Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, had expressed his desire to have IPL governing body with an opportunity of having franchisees retain up to eight RTM cards instead of the normal player retaining windows. “For instance, Venky Mysore from KKR has come up with a practical idea whereby if you have players who can command a fair market value then you should be allowed to hold on to them. So no retentions but eight RTM cards,” shared Bhogle on his YouTube channel.
Teams could retain a maximum of five players during the 2018 mega auction. Out of which, three could be retained before the auction and up to three repurchased back by a team using the RTM option at auctioning. This was peculiar in 2022 mega auction when Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joined IPL; where other eight teams were allowed to keep four players but no chance for them through RTMs as BCCI wanted GT and LSG to have wider pool of players from which they can choose their squad members.
The salary cap is likely going up
It is likely that the salary cap for each team will rise sharply — upwards from INR 90 Crores to about INR 130-140 Crores.
“I’m told it has been hanging in balance for quite some time now. We expect that there will be an increase in salary cap from Rs 90 crs to Rs 130crs – Rs140 crs.” IPL would witness 84 matches during IPL 2025 &26 as agreed upon in the media rights deal made in 2002 whilst IPL 2027 will have 94 matches next year. Actually this means more number games with little intervals between them. And once again, we can anticipate that players will ask for more money this season,” explained our source.
Furthermore include a discussion on contorversial Impact Player rule, although there are indications that the rule may still be implemented for at least another year.
