It’s nearing 2018 and with that, the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is keeping the media abuzz. The salary purse for IPL teams has also been extended to Rs. 80 crore this season, that could see a lot of money could be shelled out by teams during the upcoming auctions in January end.
With the return of Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after a two-year spot-fixing ban, teams have been given the choice to retain five of their elite players from their previous squads with two options – retain three cricketers with two Right to Match (RTM) or retain two cricketers with three RTM.
However, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is not very keen on retaining the captain Virat Kohli. He has been one of the most integral members of the RCB top order and has formed a formidable partnership with Gayle and de Villiers scoring runs consistently and also steering the ship alone in cases.
According to an Ahmedabad Mirror report, teams such as Royal Challengers Bangalore face a big dilemma in retaining their top players such as Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, with a new change in the IPL retention policy manual released by BCCI. The policy reads, “The deduction from salary purse in case of retention will be determined on the basis of guideline price or actual price (whichever is higher).”
In the past, RCB were paying Kohli a total of Rs. 15 crores (actual price) but the franchise was deducted only Rs. 12 crores (guideline price) from their budget. The new policy will see teams pay the highest amount from the guideline or actual price.
If players are not satisfied with the price being quoted by their respective franchises, they could opt to be a part of the auction pool which could see them get a huge price.
Without a doubt, players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Kohli and de Villiers form the core of Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, will the franchise take a punt by spending nearly 50% of their purse on retaining these three players?
It won’t be a surprise if we see the Indian skipper play for a new IPL team next year.
