As per the recent reports, the highly awaited meeting between the BCCI and all the IPL franchise owners, about the IPL 2024 mega-auction, is scheduled to take place on 31st July at 7:30 pm in Mumbai. Numerous topics will be discussed in the close-door meeting such as auction purse, number of retentions, and the impact player rule.
One of the major talking points in the meeting would be the number of retentions per franchise going into the auction. A lot of teams have vouched for a maximum of 5-6 retentions rather than limiting it down to only 4 retentions per franchise.
Heading into the 2022 IPL Mega-Auction, the BCCI had told the franchise to retain a maximum of four players. It will be interesting to see if they make any changes in this regard.
There are also a few franchises who urged not to put a restrain on the number of foreign players being retained in the side. As for now, all the franchises are allowed to retain only one overseas player.
Another big point of discussion will be around the auction purse during the meeting. The franchises have advised the top authority to increase the purse from the set amount of INR 100 crore. There has been a lot of debate on the impact player rule, since its introduction in 2023.
Many pundits have argued that it has diminished the importance of all-rounders in the game. India skipper, Rohit Sharma had also voiced his opinion on the same and said that it goes against a country, which already lacks high-quality all-rounders in the circuit.
The focus will also be on the RTM option being used by the franchises. As per various sources, a particular franchise’s CEO put forward an interesting observation where all the franchises should be allowed to retain only one big player and the rest of the retentions could be made through RTMs.
This way, the market value of those players could be assessed during the auction and the franchise can then attain them through the RTM option. It will also help the player get his due amount.
What about uncapped players in IPL 2025?
There have been various suggestions regarding the mega-auction taking place once every month. Numerous franchises invest their time and energy in scouting and grooming the uncapped players.
However, the mega-auction in every three-year cycle hamper the continuity of such players in a particular franchise. Thus, you could see the mega-auction began to take place after a gap of every five years instead of three after the meeting.
