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The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League starts on April 4, 2018 but before that comes the player auctions. The auction has been a feature of the IPL since its inception and one that has often decided a team’s fate for that year’s tournament. This year’s auction was supposed to be a rather all-encompassing one with the so-called ’10-year rule’ being activated.
The rule stated that every 10 years, all players, regardless of their value to their respective franchise, were required to be released and made available in the auction pool. This though was effectively negated after the BCCI allowed franchisees to retain five players each. The franchisees submitted a list of the players they would like to retain on January 4. The retention policy stated that they could retain either three players through direct retention or a maximum of three through Right to Match cards, the latter of which will play a role in the upcoming auctions.
IPL Auction 2018 LIVE Streaming Online: When and where to watch it on TV
But first:
What is different in this year’s auctions?
The player salary cap has increased. The cap for each team last season was a measly Rs 66 crores last year and that has gone up to a fairly more respectable Rs 80 crore. It is also set to go up to Rs 82 crore and Rs 85 crore in the next two years respectively. Adjacently, the squad size has gone down to 25 from 27. The teams can keep a maximum of eight overseas players, as opposed to nine last year, and the minimum number of players for each team is 18.
Players from the lower categories stand to gain more. All segments for the uncapped players have received a Rs 10 lakh-boost. The lower categories of capped players have increased to Rs 50 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, as opposed to Rs 30 lakhs and 50 lakhs last year.
Right To Match cards:
Franchises could retain five players with either three through direct retention or three through Right to Match cards that will be used during the auctions. Teams can only use a maximum of three RTMs, regardless of the number of players they managed to retain in the aforementioned lists submitted to the BCCI on January 4.
If a player has been succesfully bought by one franchise, the team that he used to play for last year can use a Right to Match card to match the bid made by the former and keep the player with them. Those teams that have retained three players can only used the RTM card twice in the auctions.
Furthermore, if the three players are all capped players, the franchise can use the RTM only for an overseas or uncapped player. For example, since Chennai Super Kings have retained three capped players in MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina, they cannot use the RTM to buy Ravichandran Ashwin and will have to do so through the normal bidding process.
