IPL franchises ask for two-year ban on overseas players pulling out after being bought at auction

The IPL franchises have recommended a two-year ban on overseas players should they make themselves unavailable for the season after being bought at the auction without legitimate cause. They have also told the IPL to make it mandatory for overseas players to register for the mega auction and not just enter mini-auctions anticipating potentially large price tags. ESPNcricinfo has learned that virtually all ten franchises agreed on those two points during their meeting with the IPL on Wednesday.

Many IPL teams have been hurt by overseas players pulling out on the eve of a new season citing personal reasons. They pointed out that such late pullouts have a detrimental effect on team performance because strategies are devised keeping these overseas names in mind and their sudden unavailability leaves the franchises scrambling to find replacements from a much shallower pool of international talent.

The franchises told the IPL they could understand if the player's board was pulling him out to honour an international commitment, or if he has suffered an injury, or has family commitments that render him incapable of joining the squad. They were happy to make these allowances so long as there was clarity at the time of the auction about the player's availability during the IPL season.

The problem the franchises are facing is that on several occasions, players who are bought at base price pull out post-auction. They even provided an example of a player's manager telling a franchise his client could be available if he was paid more.

The franchises also told the IPL that there were several instances of prominent overseas players skipping the mega auctions over the last two cycles (2018-24) but making themselves available for the mini-auctions in order to attract big bids. This tends to happen because of the short supply of high-quality talent in mini-auctions. At the last mega auction, in 2022, the highest bid for a player was INR 15.25 crore (USD 2.03 million approx), Ishan Kishan going to Mumbai Indians. At the most recent mini auction, there were two bids higher than that, for Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore or USD 2.98 million approx) and Pat Cummins (INR 20.50 crore or USD 2.47 million approx).

The franchises felt some of these players and their managers were attempting to game the system so it was essential for the IPL to put certain checks in place. The franchises said they understood if a new or upcoming overseas player registered for mini-auctions, but bigger names had to register for mega auctions. If they go unsold, then they could enter the mini-auction the following season.