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A decision was reached at the Indian Premier League Governing Council (GC) meeting in Delhi on Wednesday to let franchises retain five players through a combination of direct retention and the 'right to match (RTM)' formula.
The decision enables former Indian captain MS Dhoni to return to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise from the 2018 season without being placed in the auction pool. Dhoni had played for the Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in the last two seasons.
In the event of the franchise not retaining a player directly, they will be allowed to use their right to match thrice during the player auction. For example, if CSK chooses not to retain Dhoni directly and he is placed on auction instead, CSK will have the right to match the highest bid for him and retain him that way.
CSK and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who will be returning to the league after serving two-year suspensions, will be allowed to retain players who played for their respective squads in the 2015 IPL season and those who were part of now defunct teams Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiant.
"An IPL Franchise is eligible to secure up to 5 players by virtue of a combination of Player Retention (Pre Player Auction) and Right to Match (RTM) (During the Player Auction)," BCCI Acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary said in a statement after the meeting.
"The player pool available for CSK and RR for retention/RTM will be the players' who played for them respectively in IPL 2015 and who were part of RPS and Gujarat Lions squads in IPL 2017," he added.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked franchises as to how many players they would like to retain. The franchises, however, had expressed different views on the matter.
According to report by the Indian Express, one franchise was reportedly in favour of retaining as many as five players, while another proposed retention of one player per team. Rajasthan Royals wanted everyone to go back to the auction pool, the report said.
"The minimum spend will be 75 percent of the salary cap for each season," the BCCI stated.
Salary budgets for IPL teams have also been hiked to Rs 80 crore from Rs 66 crore for the 2018 season. The player auction is tentatively set for February.
(With PTI inputs)
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