The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly working on setting the rules for keeping players before the big player auctions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2025.
According to Cricbuzz, many teams have asked for the ability to keep more players.
They want the limit to increase from four to anywhere between five and seven. One team even asked if they could keep up to eight players. However, not all teams agree, as some have asked for no option to keep players at all. Additionally, there was a suggestion to not allow keeping players and instead use Right To Match (RTM) cards, which were not used in the last big auction in 2021 for the IPL.
The Acting CEO of the BCCI, Hemang Amin, who is also in charge of the IPL, recently sought opinions from the CEOs of the IPL teams regarding the salary cap and policies for the next three years. He also inquired about their thoughts on the use of RTM cards.
The Indian Cricket Board has mentioned that it will reveal its decision during a meeting with the team owners, scheduled for later this month.
Additionally, the CEOs of the franchises were asked about the player budget. Currently, each team has a budget of Rs 100 crore. There is a general consensus to set the salary cap between Rs 110-120 crore, but it might increase by Rs 20 crore.
The report mentioned that the Impact Player rule was discussed. The companies that broadcast the games are happy with it, but the coaches don’t like it much. This rule was introduced in the IPL in 2023 and continued in 2024.
However, it was criticized by players like Rohit Sharma, who said the rule is ‘removing a lot from the game just to add a bit of fun for the audience’.
“I usually think this change might slow down the progress of versatile players because cricket is a game for 11 players, not 12,” Rohit mentioned on the Club Prairie Podcast. “I don’t really like the idea of an impact player. It takes away a lot from the game just to add a bit of fun for the audience. But if we focus only on the cricket part of it… I can show you many examples – players like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube aren’t able to bowl, which isn’t good for us [the Indian team],” he continued.
