The IPL franchises are eagerly waiting for the announcement of retention rules.
Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, all teams are set to undergo a major overhaul as the mega-auction will be conducted later this year.
While the grand auction is expected to take place in November 2024, there is no clarity yet on the number of retentions each franchise will be allowed.
Meanwhile, a report published in Cricbuzz claims that the BCCI could announce the new retention rules on Saturday (September 28).
According to the report, the IPL Governing Council will meet on Saturday in Bengaluru and the announcement is expected to be made in the next 24 hours.
The report also suggested that the IPL Governing Council meeting will take place at 11.30 AM at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bengaluru.
With the fast-approaching auction, the IPL franchises are eagerly waiting for the announcement of retention rules. There are rumours doing the rounds that the number of retentions could be ranging between 2 to 8, and the BCCI might settle at a number somewhere in the middle.
It would be interesting to see if the Right to Match (RTM) option is given to the IPL teams. In the 2018 mega-auction, a maximum of five players were allowed to retain by each team. Of the five, three players were retained before the auction, while up to three could be bought back by a team through the RTM option in the auction.
During the 2022 mega-auction, when Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants entered the IPL, the eight other teams were allowed to retain four players, but the RTM options were not used since the BCCI wanted GT and LSG to have a larger player pool to choose from.
Besides, the Governing Council is also expected to take a call on the date and venue of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. Several reports have claimed that the auction could take place in a Gulf City at the end of November.
Saudi Arabia is believed to have expressed interest in staging the auction, and if the GC approves, it may even be held in Riyadh.
Last year, the IPL auction was conducted outside India for the first time as Dubai hosted the event.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)