IPL owners' meet: DC want Impact Player scrapped; SRH recommend seven players to be retained

Delhi Capitals (DC) co-owner Parth Jindal wants the Impact Player rule scrapped, while Kavya Maran, the owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), recommended a minimum of seven players to be retained without any restrictions on the number of overseas players bought back. There was also a split vote on having a mega auction every five years. These were some of the discussions during the meeting between the BCCI and the owners of the ten IPL teams on Wednesday, in Mumbai.

The meeting, which was held at the BCCI office, was organised to discuss various points concerning retentions for the IPL 2025 season. There were also discussions on whether the right-to-match (RTM) card option should be brought back at the auction, and if a special category should be created for uncapped players to incentivise teams that have scouted and developed young talent. The frequency of the mega auctions and the auction purse were among the other points discussed.

In a media release, the BCCI said these recommendations will be taken to the IPL governing council for "further deliberation and evaluation" before formulating the player regulations. The rules for both retention and auction for the 2025 season are expected to be finalised by end of August.

The original motive of the Impact Player rule was to allow more Indian players, especially the uncapped ones, to get exposure. However, prominent players and coaches argued that it was not creating a level-playing field, with India's Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma saying he was not a big fan of the rule because it would hold back the "development" of allrounders.

Jindal agreed with Rohit's viewpoint. "Some people want it because it gives a chance to young players to play in the IPL," Jindal said after the meeting. "Some people don't want it because it is detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of the development of allrounders. So it's a mixed bag. I'm on the second camp. I don't want it. I prefer the game as it is 11 versus 11, and I think allrounders are very important. And you have different players who don't bowl in the IPL or don't bat in the IPL because of this rule, which is not good for Indian cricket."

Retention was the most important item on the agenda and Jindal said it was "all up in the air" with teams requesting various numbers. It is understood Maran asked for at least seven retentions. It is no surprise considering SRH have several big names in their squad. Apart from captain Pat Cummins, the likes of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy and T Natarajan played important roles in SRH finishing as runners-up in the 2024 season.

ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Maran requested the IPL not to impose a cap on the number of overseas as well as capped and uncapped Indians a franchise could retain once the IPL had finalised the retention number. She said they would lean towards retaining maximum overseas players. This view was echoed by more than one franchise during a recent meeting with IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin.

The franchises had told Amin that retaining the core was critical not just from a performance point of view but it enabled teams to create fan loyalty with some of the established players. They also wanted to retain uncapped Indian talent they had deeply invested in.

ESPNcricinfo has also learnt that Maran proposed that players could be secured via a plain retention process or a combination of retention and RTM at the auction or all exclusively via the right-to-match (RTM) card. The last method, it is understood, was suggested by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who had asked for as many as eight players to be bought back exclusively via the RTM method.

Maran is believed to have told the gathering that the franchise would get the choice to discuss with the player whether he wanted to be retained prior to the auction or via the RTM option. This will not leave the player "disgruntled" about his retention price, she said. From previous experience, Maran pointed out that players preferred to go to the auction because they felt the retention amount was on the lower side.

An RTM, which allows the market to determine the price, was previously part of the 2018 mega auction but not in 2022 when teams were revamped after a four-year cycle. Maran felt that a player could be paid better in case he preferred the RTM option, so that the auction purse would dictate his exact value. Either way, Maran said, the process would ensure transparency.

Jindal said while the franchises were "not on the same page on many issues", he was "surprised" some owners wanted mega auctions scrapped.

"I was surprised," he said. "There was a debate. Some people said that there should not be a mega auction at all. There should be only smaller auctions. I'm not in that camp. I feel that it evens the playing field and it's very good for everyone. It makes the IPL what it is. It makes it competitive. It makes it an even-playing field."

Maran was one of those in favour of having mega auctions every five years. She also proposed having just a mini-auction for the 2025 season.

During their meeting with Amin, some franchises, including SRH, had suggested that the IPL must allow them the discretion to negotiate the retention amounts with the players instead of ranking them via retention slabs which has been the norm in previous mega auctions.

Maran is believed to have suggested that based on the number of players retained, the IPL could determine an amount which the franchise then would negotiate with the players.

Apart from Jindal and Maran, other owners who were present at the meeting were Shah Rukh Khan (principal owner of KKR), Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur (principal owner and chair of Rajasthan Royals respectively), Kiran Gandhi (DC co-owner), Rupa Gurunath and Kasi Viswanathan (owner and CEO of CSK respectively), Prathmesh Mishra and Rajesh Menon (chair and vice-president at Diageo, the group that owns RCB), Sanjiv Goenka and Shashwat Goenka (LSG owner and his son), Ness Wadia (co-owner of Punjab Kings), Amit Soni (CVC Partners, owners of Gujarat Titans) and Akash Ambani (Mumbai Indians owner), who is understood to have attended virtually.