IPL Player Retentions: All that you need to know

IPL 2021 was a blockbuster even though it wasn’t fully held in India. Crowds came back to the stadiums after a one-year hiatus during the UAE leg and even though the tournament was abrupted midway in May, the tournament saw incredible growth. The testimony to this was the valuation of the two new franchises that were bought in the lead up to the 2022 season.

The IPL 2022 mega-auction has already garnered huge debates and discussions among fans even as India is playing a bilateral series against New Zealand at home.

Despite the communique for the exact date of the mega auction still to be announced, the tentative date as per the insiders is supposed to be in the last week of January, while the deadline for player retention approaches (November 30th).

Before we dive into the wildest canards of retentions and possible purchases, let us quickly take you through the brief rules of retentions.

Rules and regulations of the retentions:

Every team is allowed to come to the auction with a staggering purse of Rs 90 crore. However, there is a slight catch to it. Every single retention would come at a cost and it would significantly modify itself with the number of retentions.

If a team retains four players, then a sum of Rs 42 crore will be deducted. Player 1 will come at a cost of Rs 16 crore while Player 2 will come at a cost of Rs 12 crore, player 3 will come at a cost of Rs 8 crore while the final player would come at a cost of Rs 6 crore. Hence, the cumulative amount of Rs 42 crores will be deducted from the purse.

The deduction for 3 players will be summed at Rs 33 crore with the first player coming at Rs 15 crore while the second one coming at a cost of Rs 11 crore and the final player will be coming at Rs 7 crore. Hence, the cumulative amount would tot up to Rs 33 crore.

The deduction from the purse for 2 players would come to Rs 24 crore where the amount would be labelled as Rs 14 crore for the first player while the second one would be coming at Rs 10 crore. 

The final pointer on the list will be the deduction for 1 player and the amount comes to a whopping Rs 14 crore for that one player. Of course, when you are retaining one player, it has to come at a staggering rate, let’s just call him the numero uno.

There will be no Right To Match (RTM) cards available this time and hence, the retentions will have to be chalked out with caution with zero time to rue misses.

It remains to be seen whether every team retains four players and reward loyalty, or would they take a punt and rely on getting quality players for a much lesser price tag at the auction.

With a day to go for the retentions to be announced, let us know in the comments section, what your predictions are for RCB and other teams.