SRH CEO Kavya Maran at an IPL match

On Wednesday (July 31), the BCCI met with the owners of IPL franchises to take their input on new rules and regulations for the league. The topmost items on the agenda were the rules around player retentions and right to match (RTM) options, as well as the need and/or frequency of the league's mega auction, which currently happens every three years.

Another topic of discussion in the meeting was around the withdrawal of foreign players, despite being signed up by a franchise. It has been seen that every season, a few players who have been picked in the auction do not turn up for the tournament. Some of these cases are injury-related, but franchises have not taken kindly to other reasons provided for their absence.

Kavya Maran calls for ban on foreign players who withdraw

As reported by Cricbuzz, Sunrisers Hyderabad CEO Kavya Maran said after the auction that foreign players who withdraw for any reason apart from injury should be banned from taking part in the tournament.

"After being selected in the auction, if a player doesn't come to play the season for any reason apart from injury, he should be banned," she said. "The franchises put in a lot of effort into the auction to form their combinations.

"If a player goes for a low amount in the auction, and subsequently doesn't turn up, it affects the combination and the balance of the side. There have been many instances of overseas players not turning up for this reason."

During IPL 2024, it was widely reported that SRH were displeased at all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga's withdrawal from the tournament. He had cited injury as the reason, but it seemed SRH believed the primary reason for his withdrawal was the fact that he would receive INR 1.5 crore playing for them as opposed to the INR 10.75 crore he had earnt playing for RCB in 2023.

Whether such action is feasible without affecting the quality of the IPL as a whole is yet to be seen. But if Maran's words are anything to go by, it is clearly an issue that franchises take very seriously.

Maran: Retention rules need changes

Apart from her stance on foreign players, Maran also spoke about her preferred changes to the retention and RTM. She was of the opinion that each team should be given a minimum of seven retention/RTM options. The split between retentions and RTMs can be left to each franchise, based on their discussions with players.

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She also said that the IPL's cap on the number of foreign players each team is allowed to retain should be done away with, reasoning that each side is built differently, and removing this cap would also allow those with a strong foreign core, like SRH, to keep their side together.

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