IPL 2018 Player Retention event Schedule and Timings

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been creating a lot of buzz with the auctions around the corner. However, there’s another big event prepped up. The broadcasters have decided to highlight the Player Retention Event, scheduled to be held on 4th January.

Every team has been allowed to retain a maximum of 3 players. They further have an option of retaining 2 more players via Right To Match card on the auction day. However, if a team doesn’t retain any player, they can go ahead and use 3 Right To Match cards.

Schedule and timings of broadcast

The IPL Player Retention Event will be telecast live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports Hindi 1 including HD. The event is supposed to commence on 6:50 pm IST on the 4th of January. It is also going to be live streaming on Hotstar.

Recently, Star India had bagged the media rights for a period of 5 years from 2018 to 2022. They paid a whopping amount of Rs 16,347.5 crores to pip others including Sony India who previously held the rights. Seems like they’re not leaving any stone unturned with regards to broadcasting the events surrounding the tournament.

Possible retentions

Mumbai Indians is highly likely to retain Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings may go ahead with MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. The Royal Challengers Bangalore will certainly have Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers on their retention list.

Sunrisers Hyderabad may in all likelihood retain David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, they will also be entangled with big names like Shikhar Dhawan, Rashid Khan and Mustafizur Rahman. The Kolkata Knight Riders too would be spoilt for options. While Andre Russell and Manish Pandey will probably make the cut, it will be difficult to leave out Gautam Gambhir and Kuldeep Yadav.

It would be interesting to see who Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab retain. Reportedly, both the franchisees had earlier requested for fresh auctions. Rajasthan Royals who are also coming back after a two years gap will be looking to finalise their names.