BCCI Set to Make Final Call on IPL Mega Auction and Impact Player Rule Dispute

The IPL club owners disagreed on a number of issues during their meeting with BCCI officials here on Wednesday, covering everything from the implications of the substitute player regulation to the super auction.

The BCCI organized a meeting at its headquarters to examine the guidelines because the mega auction is scheduled to take place in front of the 18th T20 League edition next year. Secretary Jay Shah verified this after the meeting.

“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 said in a release.

“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,” Shah added in the release.

It is unlikely that teams will be permitted to keep more than five players who have a single Right to Match (RTM) card. A club can match the winning bid of a player from their roster from the previous season by using the RTM card.

Later, the media was informed by the BCCI secretary that the board will shortly make decisions on all of the topics that were considered.

Shah Rukh Khan of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kavya Maran of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ness Wadia of the Punjab Kings, Sanjiv Goenka of the Lucknow Super Giants with his son Shashwat, KK Grand, and Parth Jindal of the Delhi Capitals were among the team owners or co-owners present at the meeting.

The proprietors of the Mumbai Indians attended it virtually, along with Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur from the Rajasthan Royals, Prathamesh Mishra from Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kasi Viswanathan and Rupa Gurunath from the Chennai Super Kings, and Amit Soni from the Gujarat Titans.

Wadia and SRK engaged in a contentious discussion about holding a huge auction versus not.

The Delhi Capitals’ owner, JSW Sports, director Parth Jindal, claimed that the meeting had “no real outcome” because the teams aimed to maintain their positions on all topics covered.

“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 the reporters here at the BCCI headquarters.

When it came to how many players each team wished to hold onto before the big auction, Jindal acknowledged that there was no agreement among them.

“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 replied.

Jindal stated that the Delhi Capitals are not opposed to holding an auction and acknowledged that there has been discussion about whether or not there should be an auction during the IPL.

“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 said.

“I’m not in that camp. I feel that it auction evens the playing field and it’s very good for everyone. It makes the IPL what it is. It makes it competitive. It makes it an even-playing field,” he added.

“We’re not on the same page on many issues. But I think the BCCI, in their wisdom, will decide. I think the president and secretary will decide,” he said.

Along with sharing his thoughts, Jindal stated that the Delhi Capitals oppose the impact player rule.

“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 said.

“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,” Jindal said.

Wadia of the Punjab Kings stated that the issue of international players’ availability was also discussed and expressed the hope that choices will be made with “all stakeholders” in mind.

“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 told the media.

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