MUMBAI: As expected, player retentions were under review at a recent meeting of IPL’s ten owners with the top brass of BCCI held at BCCI offices on Wednesday evening though some franchises even queried the need for mega auction later this year as no agreement was reached in the four-hour long meeting.
“We have discussed everything. We shall make all decisions within one week,” said Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary, The Times of India instantly noted.
Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal summed up the differences between team owners perfectly saying, “We are not on the same page on many issues. I think the BCCI, in their wisdom, will decide (on retentions). The president and secretary will decide that. By the end of August hopefully we’ll know what takes place for next cycle.”
Asked if there was any debate in the meeting about whether there should actually be a mega auction or not – because some people from some of the bigger franchises felt that there should be a mini-auction instead – Jindal replied: “There was and I was quite surprised. Some people said no to a mega auction. Only small auctions should be done. I’m not in that camp at all. It brings parity to IPL and makes it an equal playing field and that’s what IPL is all about. That’s why.”
“Regarding how many players can be retained by each franchise; No consensus” says co-owner Parth Jindal of Delhi Capital who adds “Some people want 8-10 others want four.” What could be better than ambiguity?
DD owner Parth Jindal gives thumbs-down to Impact Player rule
Meanwhile, there was no consensus between the franchises on the controversial Impact Player rule too. A mixed bag is what it is; Jindal confessed he wasn’t keen on this law which allows having an extra batter or bowler during the match. “Again, different views. 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’s detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of the development of allrounders. So, it’s a mixed bag. I’m in the second camp. I don’t want it. I want the game as it is: 11 vs 11. They think that the allrounders are very important, and you have different players who don’t bowl in the IPL or don’t bat in the IPL, which is not good for Indian cricket.”
Shah stated about meeting: “On Wednesday BCCI organized an interactive session with owners of all franchises for upcoming season of IPL on various issues concerning; franchise owners presented their perspective on player regulation and other commercial matters (central merchandising, licensing and gaming).”
These recommendations will be presented by the BCCI to the IPL governing council for more discussions and scrutiny prior to drafting the IPL player regulations.
It is obvious that some of the larger teams are not in favour at all of having a mega auction, they instead want a mini auction so as to keep most of their top players. “Should we have a gig or should we have a mini-auction? The franchises seem to want as many players as possible at this point, because they have put a lot of money into them,” it revealed.
The teams might be able to utilize Right-to-Match cards if there is no mega auction and hence giving them an opportunity to retain their top players. However, this paper was informed that something must be sorted out for those paid lower salaries’ players.
Wadia told this paper that there was intense debate between Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shah Rukh Khan and Punjab Kings’ co-owner Ness Wadia on one issue but he dismissed anything controversial by stating it was just “a regular discussion” not “heated debate” which some websites were alleging.
While Akash Ambani, owner Mumbai Indians joined virtually, some of the others including Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan; Kiran Kumar Grandhi from Delhi Capital, Sanjiv Goenka representing Lucknow Super Giants; Rupa Gurunath who is Chennai Super Kings; Kavya Maran who represents Sun Risers Hyderabad; Manoj Badale from Rajasthan Royals were among those present.
