The Indian Premier League 2022 will see the eight existing franchises being allowed to retain a maximum of four players, while the two new ones—Ahmedabad and Lucknow—will be able to get three players from the rest of the player pool before the auction next year, ESPNcricinfo reported today.
These rules were, reportedly, clarified by the IPL in informal discussions this week with the franchises.
The purse for the IPL 2022 auction is likely to be Rs 90 crore (USD 12 million approx)—it was Rs 85 crore in the 2021 auction. In the 2018 mega auction, the teams had Rs 80 crore, of which they could spend a maximum of Rs 33 crore on retained players—the teams were then allowed to buy back five players through a combination of retention and two right-to-match (RTM) cards.
There will be no RTM cards next year. The franchises will be able to apply two different combinations while picking the four players they want to retain: three Indians and one overseas, or two Indians and two overseas, ESPNcricinfo reported.
The two new franchises are allowed two Indian players and one overseas, but there is no clarity yet on whether these three players need to be from those released by the other teams or from the larger auction player pool.
Retention will ultimately be the player's choice, as he can chose to go back into the auction pool for a better paycheck or a change in franchise, even if his current team wants to retain him. In fact, M.S. Dhoni's remarks during the recently concluded IPL can be a pointer. The former India skipper, who has been ordinary with his batting and keeping, is still valued for his cricketing acumen. Having led the CSK to the fourth IPL title, the franchise has said it will retain him next year. Dhoni, too, had initially hinted that he would like to play his farewell game in CSK colours in front of the Chennai crowd. However, he later raised speculations by saying that there are “uncertainities” over his future at the CSK given the two new teams in the mix.
The deadline for retaining players is likely to be the end of November.
