Other IPL franchisees mull over favours to CSK and RR for player retention

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction nears, there has been a lot of buzz amongst the franchisees. The IPL Governing Council recently stated the rules regarding retention policy. However, there has been a little bit discontent among the other teams regarding the favours being extended to the returning Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

Both the teams were suspended for a period of two years following the 2015 edition. Now that they are making a comeback, they’ve been allowed to retain players from their side in 2015 that were picked by RPS and GL. Some franchises aren’t pleased with the decision, considering the two teams don’t have contracts with any players currently.

Why should the two franchises retain on the basis of their 2015 squads?

One of the sources according to the Telegraph stated that if this was the case, every player should’ve been brought to the auction.

“It’s common sense that a franchise can retain simply those players on its rolls. But neither the Super Kings nor the Rajasthan Royals have a single player with them at this point in time… Why should the two franchises retain on the basis of their 2015 squads? If that had to be done, then every single player ought to have gone into the upcoming full-fledged auction.”

He further accused the governing council of being biased.

“Clearly, some people have a vested interest, which is why a blatantly unfair policy has been forced into place. I’d say it’s even ridiculous at one level.”

He put up an important point saying that since both teams didn’t pay any fee, they shouldn’t be liable to retain.

Gautam Gambhir may not be retained 

Kolkata Knight Riders have been in a dilemma judging Gautam Gambhir’s retention. While he has been the skipper since 2011 and also a two-time IPL winning captain, the team hasn’t done great in the past few years.

While he has been amongst the top run scorers in the IPL, there’s the fact that he’s nowhere near his best. Also with the likes of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Manish Pandey in the squad, Kolkata are likely to choose someone from them. They may try to get Gambhir through RTM.

The IPL Auction is scheduled to take place on 27th and 28th January.