IPL team owners had a meeting with BCCI officials to discuss various issues, including the upcoming mega auction and the impact of the substitute player rule. The BCCI had called this meeting at its headquarters to address these topics ahead of the 18th edition of the T20 league, with Secretary Jay Shah confirming the discussions.
In a release, Shah stated, "The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday organised a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises on various subjects pertaining to the upcoming season of the IPL." He added, "The franchise owners tabled feedback on player regulations and other commercial aspects, including central merchandising, licensing, and gaming. The BCCI will now take these recommendations to the IPL Governing Council for further deliberation and evaluation before formulating the IPL player regulations."
It is expected that teams will not be permitted to retain more than five players and will have only one Right to Match (RTM) card, which allows a franchise to match the final bid for a player from their previous season’s squad. Shah later confirmed that the BCCI will make decisions on all discussed points in the near future.
Among the attendees were Shah Rukh Khan from Kolkata Knight Riders, Kavya Maran from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ness Wadia from Punjab Kings, Sanjiv Goenka and his son Shashwat from Lucknow Super Giants, KK Grand and Parth Jindal from Delhi Capitals, Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur from Rajasthan Royals, Prathamesh Mishra from Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kasi Viswanathan and Rupa Gurunath from Chennai Super Kings, and Amit Soni from Gujarat Titans. Mumbai Indians' owners participated online.
A notable debate occurred between Wadia and SRK regarding the need for a mega auction. Parth Jindal, director of JSW Sports, which owns Delhi Capitals, commented that the meeting did not yield a clear outcome as opinions remained divided. "No real outcome. It was just to hear all the different perspectives from all the owners and the BCCI has heard us and now they will give us all the rules. Hopefully, by the end of August we will get to know the rules for the next cycle," Jindal told reporters.
Jindal noted that there was no consensus on the number of players teams wished to retain before the auction. "Nothing (on the consensus). Some people want eight to 10, some people want four, some people want six… it's all up in the air," he said.
He also mentioned that there was debate about whether to hold a mega auction at all. "There was, yeah, I was surprised. There was a debate. Some people said that there should not be a mega auction at all. There should be only smaller auctions," Jindal explained. He personally supports the auction system, believing it promotes a level playing field and competitiveness.
On the impact player rule, Jindal expressed opposition, stating, "Impact player rule, again, (there were) different views from different people. Some people want it because it gives a chance to young players to play in the IPL. Some people don't want it because it is detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of the development of all-rounders so it's a mixed bag." He added, "I'm in the second camp. I don't want it. I prefer the game as it is — 11 versus 11. I think all-rounders are very important. 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."
Wadia from Punjab Kings hoped the final decisions would benefit all stakeholders and mentioned that the availability of overseas players was also a topic of discussion. "We discussed several points, auctions, players, uncapped players. It was a good meeting, happy to be having a discussion with the BCCI and whatever will be done will be in favour of the fans, players and all the stakeholders," Wadia said.
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