IPL franchises unanimously call for a 2-year ban on overseas players withdrawing post auction - Reports
The IPL franchises have called for a two-year ban on overseas players who make themselves unavailable for the season after the auction without any legitimate reason, according to reports from ESPNcricinfo. It has also been reported that the franchises have told the IPL to mandate overseas players to register for the mega auction and not only the mini-auction to land better prices.
All 10 franchises unanimously agreed on the above two items during the meeting for the IPL 2025 auction in the BCCI headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, July 31.
There have been several instances of players pulling out before the start of the IPL season after the auction citing personal reasons. Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga withdrew just before IPL 2024 after the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) had bunged on him as their specialist spinner.
Other players like Jason Roy and Alex Hales have made an 11th-hour pull-out citing personal, workload, and mental fatigue reasons.
While several disagreements ensued between the franchises during the meeting, all ten franchises reportedly agreed on these two points. The owners believed such pull-outs hamper the teams' strategies that were built relying on the players.
It has been reported that players pulling out after being purchased at the base price or slightly above have even had their manager telling a franchise that the player would become available if offered more.
The franchises were fine with new overseas players trying their hand at the Mini Auction, where the price per player is generally higher due to the smaller talent supply. However, the franchises wanted the bigger overseas players to register for the mega auction and if unsold, could enter the mini auction the following year.
Franchises disagree on number of retentions during the meeting
Four of the 10 franchises made the headlines for specific wishes regarding the number of retentions before the IPL 2025 auction.
Finishing as the top two sides in IPL 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and SunRisers Hyderabad understandably wanted as many as eight players to be eligible for retention. SRH further suggested that there should be no cap on the number of Indian or overseas players in the total eight retentions.
Both franchises were also against the Mega Auction, calling it a detriment to their process of building a core over the years.
Meanwhile, two teams that finished in the bottom half of IPL 2024, Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) vehemently disagreed with the suggestions by KKR and SRH.
Both teams called for the occurrence of the mega auction and wanted a lesser number of retentions pre-auction.