The BCCI held the much-awaited meeting with several IPL owners at the sight of an IPL 2025 mega auction on the 31st of July. The meeting was held on the fourth floor of the BCCI headquarters in the Wankhede Stadium. It has been gathered from BCCI sources that team owners like Shah Rukh Khan, Kavya Maran, Ness Wadia, Kiran Kumar Gandhi, Parth Jindal, Sanjiv Goenka, Rupa Gurunath, Manoj Badale, and Prathmesh Mishra. Some, like the Ambanis, have taken part in the debacle through video conference.
Only as the debate remains on a major change in ownership for the Gujarat Titans has the franchise owners been able to participate in the meeting. The internal source of Cricbuzz has reported that the meeting was not very polite on its own, as there has been a heated exchange of words between KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan and Punjab Kings owner Ness Wadia.
The two owners of the IPL teams argued over the requirement of a mega-auction. Reportedly, both SRK and SRH owner Kavya Maran were against the mega-auction to be held so quickly. The two teams wanted to hold onto their high-performing sides, and Maran even said it is tough to keep re-investing in players, as she mentioned how SRH has nurtured Abhishek Sharma, who has now grown to be a mature and responsible cricketer who is consistent with his performance.
Maran simply stated that it takes time to mature younger players, and when it’s time to harvest them, one can’t simply let them go due to the unnecessary urge for mega-auctions. However, to the contrary, Delhi Capitals owner Parth Jindal opposed the idea of not having a mega-auction.
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He wanted to be a part of a mega-auction, which makes the IPL competitive and evens the playing field. He also portrayed his dislike for the idea of an impact player, as he felt that though some youngsters are handed chances, cricket is still all about an XI vs. XI game.
Kavya Maran, on the other hand, proposed several changes to the rules of the IPL, and the two major changes proposed were the ban on overseas players who fail to report after being picked and, secondly, the increase of retentions, or RTMs, to be used on overseas players.
Maran claimed that at least six players should be allowed to be retained. It could either be all 6 retentions, or 6 RTMs, or even 4 retentions and 2 RTMs, and so on. She agreed that several times players often want to go to the auction thinking that they are not given the price they deserve on being retained.
If all were retentions, the teams would offer lucrative side contracts to their players; however, the RTM gives a clear insight to the players on what their market value stands. Maran, the lady boss from the SRH camp, stated that even the retired players should not be treated as uncapped and hence be retained, though they can have a much higher value if let to the auction, through which she indicated on ex-India skipper MS Dhoni.
Kavya Maran and the SRH management seemed a bit upset over the ex-Lankan skipper Wanindu Hasaranga as he pulled out of the IPL 2024, despite being bought at the auction by SRH. She added her team only wants mini-auctions, and the focus would be on a basic team structure that is built with great toil. They have asked the BCCI to take strict action or even impose a ban on overseas players who withdraw their participation after being bought, without any sustainable reason like an injury.
She also insisted the BCCI not decide on how much the retained players should be paid; the salary deducted for pre-season retentions should be a net amount meant for the overall number of players. This should be left at the discretion of the franchises as to how they will distribute the amount among the players based on their calibre.
With so much offered, the BCCI proposed to the owners that they would take all suggestions and proposals to the IPL governing council, and after reaching the desired conclusion, they would come back to the franchise teams with the decisions made.