No unanimity among IPL franchises over retention policy

Top IPL teams including defending champions Mumbai Indians are in favour of retaining five top players of their existing squads. However, Rajasthan Royals are against the retention policy. Hours after the team owners met the IPL Governing Council members along with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in Mumbai on Tuesday (November 21), sources said that the Royals are in favour of zero retention policy while Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils have asked for match cards instead of retention.

Besides five retentions, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are also asking for two match cards - which will enable the team to buy the players back either on a higher or a lower price from the auction.

Kings XI Punjab have sought for two match cards to ensure that the team gets their old players to retain their fan base.

Sources also said that the CoA heard all the team owners and will take a call on the retention policy in consultation with the IPL GC members in the days to come.

"The CoA and the IPL GC members will decide on the retention policy after weighing the pros and cons. But it is certain that retention will continue because the current board management doesn't want a handful of individuals to walk away with all the advantage," a top BCCI official told TOI.

Sources also said that KKR representatives raised an issue over CSK getting to retain their original top players like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo when they are supposed to start from scratch after serving the two-year ban.

However, the Lodha Committee sources clearly stated that it didn't mention any particular point on how the suspended teams would start their season - whether they would be allowed to retain their old players or will have to shop at the auction.

Interestingly, the Royals, who are the other team to have been suspended, aren't affected because they are preparing to start their IPL season on a clean slate.