The Indian board is ready to take a big step for uncapped players ahead of the IPL 2024 auction.
According to a Cricbuzz report, the Indian board is ready to introduce an incentive plan for the uncapped players which will see a potential increase in their league fee during IPL seasons.
This move can see an uncapped player, who plays international matches between IPL seasons, get rewarded instead of remaining locked with their league fee.
As per the normal regulations, a player gets the same league fee for three years or until he is released by a franchise. However, the fee can go up if an uncapped player is sold for a minimum amount of INR 50 lakh in some scenarios.
The BCCI recently circulated a fee regulation, citing that if an uncapped player is getting paid less than INR 50 lakh at the start of a season and gets international caps in between the IPL seasons, his league fee can scale-up.
As per the fee regulation:
(a) Prior to the start of any Season the League Fee payable to any player who is uncapped is less than Rs. 50 Lakhs; and
(b) Such player is then capped or achieves 5 or 10 Caps at any time during the period from the end of one Season up to the start of the next Season
Then
(c) the League Fee payable to such Player for such next season and any subsequent season if such player's contract is extended by the relevant franchise shall be Rs. 50 Lakhs for so long as such player has 1 Cap, Rs. 75 Lakhs for so long as such player has 5-9 Caps and Rs. 1 crore if the player has 10 Caps or more; and
(d) if such player is subsequently traded then prior to such trade his League Fee shall be deemed to be determined under paragraph (c) above. It is clarified that for the purposes of calculating the Salary Cap, if the player is traded, then any increase in a player's League Fee will apply to the new franchise's Salary Cap. However, if the player remains with the existing team, then such increase will not affect the Franchisee's Salary Cap and the Salary Cap will remain the same as it was before the increase in Player's League Fee."
The BCCI has also clarified the definition of capped and uncapped players.
"An Uncapped player is one who is not a Capped player. A Capped player is one who either (a) has played in the starting XI in International Cricket (Test match, ODI, Twenty20 International) for an ICC Full member or (b) has a Central Contract with his national cricket board, being an ICC Full member. Players registered with ICC Associate member countries are deemed to be Uncapped for IPL purposes regardless of the number of appearances made for an ICC Associate member country respectively."
(Cricbuzz Inputs)