Do Royal Challengers Bangalore have second thoughts over the retention of Virat Kohli in IPL 2018?

It is indeed a big thinking and analyzing time for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises to decide about the retentions and the other kind of things related to the huge auction to be held in 2018. Every team is figuring out the different strategies to work out the best possible combination of their side for the eleventh edition of the tournament.

A similar amount of planning must be going through the minds of the team management and the owners of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) who are still having second thoughts on the retention of their star players like Indian captain Virat Kohli and former Proteas skipper AB de Villiers.

The IPL 2018 would be welcoming back their two old members, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings who were handed a two-year ban, but now after getting free from all the restrictions, both these franchises will enjoy all the liberties and entitlements as any other team does.

As per the recent BCCI announcements, all teams including Chennai and Rajasthan are entitled to retain five of their players from their preceding bunch of players in two ways- either by retaining three players with two Right to Match (RTM) or save two players with three RTM cards. The board also revealed that the franchises will have to submit the final list of retention by January 4, 2018.

Will RCB retain the services of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers?

As per a report by Ahmedabad Mirror, Royal Challengers Bangalore are in a fix over retaining some of their best players like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers who have been the star cricketers for the franchise over the years. The extreme situation is because of the introduction of the change in the retention policy brought in by the BCCI. The latest layout suggests that the salary purses will be determined on the basis of the guideline price or actual price (whichever is higher).

“The deduction from salary purse in case of retention will be determined on the basis of guideline price or actual price (whichever is higher),” said the new policy introduced by the BCCI.

According to the new guidelines, RCB will have to think about managing the services of their star players in the given budget. Whereas, both Kohli and de Villiers have the option to demand a higher amount of money and can step into the big auctions if they wish to do so.

The teams have a reserves purse worth 80 crores for the salary cap. So if RCB decides to retain both Kohli and de Villiers in the coming editions of the IPL, they will have to pay them a total of 21 crores( 12.5 crore for the first retention and 8.5 crore for the second one).

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