Set to make a comeback in the next season of Indian Premier League (IPL), tainted teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) might be allowed to retain players who played for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) and Gujarat Lions (GL) in the last two years, going by a proposal floated by the IPL Governing Council (GC).
The move, if agreed upon by franchises during next month’s workshop, will pave way for MS Dhoni who is all set to return to CSK.
“We are going to propose minimum 3 retentions — 1 Indian and 2 foreigners. The players, who played for Pune and Gujarat in last two years can be retained by Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. We will place it in front of owners during the workshop next month,” an IPL GC member told PTI after the meeting.
The proposal if accepted will mean that Dhoni, who played for RPS in the last two editions, will be automatically retained by CSK. The same condition applies for Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, who played for Gujarat Lions.
If other franchises do not agree upon the proposal, it will be really interesting. Will Dhoni find his name in the main auction? There is no clarity about it.
Besides Dhoni, there are a number of players, which CSK and RR would like to retain. If CSK goes for Dhoni (1 Indian), Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis (2 foreigners), and RR decide to retain Ajinkya Rahane (1 Indian), Steve Smith and James Faulkner (2 foreigners), it will be interesting.
All these players have proved themselves in the IPL. CSK and RR should consider themselves lucky if they can retain their services.
Meanwhile, according to CricketNext, when the IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla was contacted, he said that total retentions including Right To Match could be anything between three to five, depending upon what majority of the franchises agree.
It has also been reported that the franchises had requested the board to increase the salary purse to Rs. 75 Crore. “Most of the franchises want the salary purse to Rs 75 crore. I guess it would be done,” the official confirmed.
