IPL 2018: Franchises in two minds over player retentions

The buzz around the IPL 2018 has already begun. With the deadline for naming the players retained by the teams fast approaching, the hype is only increasing more and more as the days are passing by. The IPL GC has announced January 4 as the cut off date for the teams to name their retained players. As per the rules, a team can retain a maximum of 5 players.

This, however, includes players retained through the Right to Match cards. Prior to the auctions, a team can only retain a maximum of three players. While one would consider this to be a good news for the franchises, it is actually turning out to be a headache for them. Interestingly, the team management stand in two minds over retaining the big names.

This is largely due to the fact that retaining big names would mean shelling out big bucks from their purse of INR 80 crore. For the players retained, a team is expected to give out a maximum of INR 12.5 crore, unless the players demands more. This has put Royal Challengers Bangalore in a fix as their skipper Virat Kohli has reportedly demanded INR 20 crore to be retained.

If they retain him, and also retained AB de Villiers, they would end up shelling out almost INR 30 crore before the auctions, which is huge. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders look set to part ways with Gautam Gambhir. They have hinted at retaining only all-rounder Andre Russell.

Teams firm in their choices ahead of IPL 2018

Meanwhile, there are some teams that are firm with their choices. Chennai Super Kings are set to retain MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. They are also reportedly pondering over retaining Ravindra Jadeja. Mumbai Indians, in all likelihood, will retain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad have set their sights at retaining their three key players – Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Rebuilding the group

On the other hand, some franchises are keen on restructuring the entire set up ahead of IPL 2018. Delhi Daredevils, who are pondering over roping in Ricky Ponting as head coach, are likely to retain only Shreyas Iyer. Similarly, Rajasthan franchise will be keen on only retaining the services of Steve Smith. Kings XI Punjab, who had retained David Miller last time around, could part ways with him and retain only Glenn Maxwell.

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