The meeting between the Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on April 16 has been postponed with new date yet to be finalised. The venue for the meeting was supposed to be Ahmedabad with main agenda around the number of retentions for the mega auction that is to happen next year ahead of the cash-rich league.
It was earlier reported that certain franchises were in favour of retaining as many as eight players. But now the team owners seem to be asking to reinstate Right to Match (RTM) card option that was introduced in IPL 2018 mega auction. The top officials of the BCCI were keen on picking the brains of the team owners to decide on the same matter in the meeting. According to a report in Cricbuzz, franchises seem to be on the same page over having more RTM options in the auction instead of more retentions. In this case, the number of players to be retained could come down to only one.
In 2018, when RTM was introduced, the teams were given the option of retaining 0 to 4 players and accordingly the RTM card options were allowed to use. For example, if a team retains three players before the mega auction, then it can use RTM card only once making it a total of four retentions either way. Moreover, there has also been the talk around swelling the purse of all franchises to well over Rs 100 crore.
It has also been understood that BCCI is yet to take a stand on any of the options but more clarity is expected on the matter when the meeting actually takes place. The plan earlier was to hold the meeting on the sidelines of the game between Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad on April 16. But that game is now postponed to April 17 with the KKR vs RR game preponed by a day (April 16) due to Ram Navami festivities in Kolkata.
