IPL 2018 auction: Deadline finalised for the teams to announce their retentions

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is in the news as the mega auctions are all set to take place in January. All the eight teams are busy preparing for the event on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru. Some big signings are expected during the auctions this year as the purse for every team has been increased substantially. However, the Governing Council of IPL has announced the deadline for the teams to finalise their retentions before the auction.

All the eight franchises have to submit their list of retained players by January 4 which means only a couple of weeks are left. The deadline and the auction coincide with India’s tour of South Africa as the team will be battling it out against the Proteas in the three-match Test series. It would be interesting to see if the franchises retain some of the star players like Chris Gayle and Suresh Raina who have lost their sheen in the past year or so. Also, the fate of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be discussed a lot who are not part of the limited overs setup for India now.

What is the new retention policy?

The Governing Council of IPL declared the new retention policy earlier this month after so much was debated over the matter. While few franchises were in favour of full auction with no retentions, many wanted to retain as many as five players with them. However, the GC found a mid-way and decided that a total of five players can be retained by each franchise in the form of retention (before the auction) and Right-to-Match (RTM) cards (during the auction). The count cannot go over 3 in both the cases which means the teams will have to strategize properly.

They will also have to take care of their purse as the team owners will have to pay a lot of money if they decide to retain three players. Even if the teams decide not to retain any player before the auction, they can only use three RTM cards during the auction due to the set limit. It is also expected that the pool of players will be ready by January 18 ahead of the mega auctions. More players from Afghanistan and associate teams are expected to be picked this year given the success of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi in the last season.