Today is the day when the Indian Premier League will be finalized for the upcoming season of the T20 festival. It has been expected that it will be a mega affair with the returns of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the two of the most successful teams in the league. Both the teams will also get back their players who played for Rising Pune Supergiants and the Gujarat Lions in past two seasons.
The most interesting part of the upcoming IPL auction scheduled to take place on 27th and 28th January in Bengaluru is that it will have a maximum number of cricketers to go under the hammer since the inaugural edition. But before the auction day, the retention event is scheduled in which each of the eight IPL teams will have to put forth names of three (maximum) players they want to keep.
Earlier the IPL governing council had announced that every franchise would be able to hold back at least 5 players: maximum of three retentions and minimum of two by the use of the RTM (Right to Match) card.
IPL 2018 Retention Process
There can be a maximum of either three retentions or three RTMs at the consideration of the franchises and if there is no retention before the player auction, then franchises can have up to three RTMs, as per the norms put in place by the IPL GC.
The break-up will be a maximum number of 3 capped Indian players, 2 overseas players, and 2 uncapped Indian players each.
Salary Caps
The salary cap has also been raised as it’s fixed at INR 80 crore for this year and will increase to INR 82 and 85 crores respectively in 2019 and 2020.
The minimum spend has been fixed at 75 percent of the salary cap for each season.
The player retention price guideline for salary cap charged has also been set as INR 33 crore (for 3 players pre-auction), INR 21 crore (for 2 players pre-auction) and INR 12.5 crore (for 1 player retained pre-auction).
Each team can consist of a maximum number of 25 players (up to 8 overseas players) and a minimum of 18.
With most of the franchises have already decided on the players to retain. We bring you our predictions on which IPL franchise should retain which players:
Kings XI Punjab
The Punjab franchise has one of the most experienced coaching staff but has failed to create an impact. They also have some of the most explosive T20 batsmen in David Miller and Glenn Maxwell who can change the game for any team. Coming to the bowling department Sandeep Sharma has been one of the most consistent performers for them and he could be their best bet costing significantly lesser than a capped player. Mohit Sharma can also be in contention to regain his place in the squad.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK)
It is pretty evident that MS Dhoni will be retained by CSK as the captain and he might also get two of his most loyal players in Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja. The two-time champions will be trying to make a stylish comeback after serving a suspension of two years. Apart from saving the superb trio, CSK might opt to keep Ravichandran Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo through the RTM card. However, players like, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum and Faf du Plessis will also be in contention for the RTM card.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
The Bengaluru outfit is yet to finalize their retention strategy as might not retain any of their old players except skipper Virat Kohli. Even the likes of AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal will be up for grabs if RCB decides to revamp the whole squad. However, they might want to keep their solid top-order trio of the mighty Chris Gayle, the ever-reliable Virat Kohli, and the veteran ABD. Mitchell Starc might get their RTM card if he is available.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
David Warner led franchise has the most lethal bowling attack in the league and they might be the rare one to save two bowlers and a batsman instead of going ahead with two batsmen. The likes of Mustafizur Rahman, Trent Boult, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan, the team management has left with a problem of plenty. The Australian superstar Warner is most likely to be retained by SRH along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar considering his experience in the Indian conditions. While the other contenders are expected to go with RTM cards.
Delhi Daredevils
The Delhi Daredevils has continued to struggle since the inaugural edition by losing on their stars one after another. As the season progressed the Delhi squad became more chaotic. Though now they have talented players like Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant who they are likely to retain. Chris Morris was also the stand-out player for DD and his all-around abilities make him a perfect retention for the IPL franchise.
Rajasthan Royals
The Rajasthan Royals will be the second to make a comeback this year along with CSK. Skipper Steve Smith will be coming back in the color blue to lead the RR squad and might see his Australian teammate James Faulkner come back. Along with the two, Rajasthan might opt to retain Ajinkya Rahane as well as he is one of the highest run-getters for the side.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
Unarguably the most loaded side in terms of the number of stars, KKR would be in all sorts of a dilemma on whom to retain. Skipper Gautam Gambhir played a crucial role in their immense success and it will be a no second thought for owner Shah Rukh Khan, but the reports suggest that the southpaw is opting out of the team. However, a tussle could be between Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Both the players have been equally impressive in their roles and have been a part of the franchise for quite some time. Among the Indian players, Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey might get the RTM cards according to the need.
Mumbai Indians
Recent reports suggest that Mumbai is looking forward to retaining Pandya brothers: Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya along with skipper Rohit Sharma. They might decided to use the RTM card for Kieron Pollard and most likely Harbhajan Singh who has been with the team right from the first season. Nitish Rana can also be the player to look out for Mumbai, especially after his heroics with the bat last season.
