IPL teams divided over mega auction, impact player rule; BCCI to take final call

Mumbai: The IPL team owners were divided in their opinions on issues ranging from the mega auction to the impact substitute player rule when they met with the BCCI officials here on Wednesday.

With the mega auction slated to be held ahead of the 18th edition of the T20 league next year, the BCCI had called for a meeting here at its headquarters to discuss the pointers and secretary Jay Shah confirmed the same after the meeting.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday organised a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises on various subjects pertaining to the upcoming season of the IPL," he said in a release.

"The franchise owners tabled feedback on player regulations and other commercial aspects, including central merchandising, licensing, and gaming. The BCCI will now take these recommendations to the IPL Governing Council for further deliberation and evaluation before formulating the IPL player regulations," Shah added in the release.

Teams are not likely to be allowed to retain more than five players with one Right to Match (RTM) card. The RTM card gives a franchise the opportunity to match the final bid of a player from their squad of the previous season.

The BCCI secretary later confirmed to the media that the board will be taking its decisions soon on all the points that were discussed.

Among the team owners or co-owners who attended the meeting were Shah Rukh Khan from Kolkata Knight Riders, Kavya Maran from Sunrisers Hyderabad, Ness Wadia from Punjab Kings, Sanjiv Goenka with his son Shashwat from Lucknow Super Giants, KK Grand and Parth Jindal from Delhi Capitals.

Manoj Badale and Ranjit Barthakur from Rajasthan Royals, Prathamesh Mishra from Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kari Viswanathan and Rupa Gurunath from Chennai Super Kings, Amit Soni from Gujarat Titans while Mumbai Indians' owners attended it online.

Wadia and SRK had a heated debate on the issue of whether to have a mega auction or not.

However, Parth Jindal, the director of JSW Sports which owns the Delhi Capitals, said there was "no real outcome" from the meeting as the teams looked to stick to their opinions on all the matters discussed.

"No real outcome. It was just to hear all the different perspectives from all the owners and the BCCI has heard us and now they will give us all the rules. Hopefully, by the end of August we will get to know the rules for the next cycle," Jindal told the reporters here at the BCCI headquarters.

Jindal confirmed there was no consensus among the teams in context of the number of players they wanted to retain ahead of the mega auction.

"Nothing (on the consensus). Some people want eight to 10, some people want four, some people want six… it's all up in the air," he replied.

Jindal confirmed there was a debate whether there should be an auction in the IPL at all, while adding that Delhi Capitals are not against having an auction.

"There was, yeah, I was surprised. There was a debate. Some people said that there should not be a mega auction at all. There should be only smaller auctions," Jindal said.

"I'm not in that camp. I feel that it (auction) evens the playing field and it's very good for everyone. It makes the IPL what it is. It makes it competitive. It makes it an even-playing field," he added.

"We're not on the same page on many issues. But I think the BCCI, in their wisdom, will decide. I think the president and secretary will decide," he said.

Jindal also expressed the opinion that Delhi Capitals are against the impact player rule while providing his views.

"Impact player rule, again, (there were) different views from different people. Some people want it because it gives a chance to young players to play in the IPL. Some people don't want it because it is detrimental to Indian cricket in terms of the development of all-rounders so it's a mixed bag," he said.

"I'm in the second camp. I don't want it. I prefer the game as it is — 11 versus 11. I think all-rounders are very important. You have different players who don't bowl in the IPL or don't bat in the IPL because of this rule, which is not good for Indian cricket," Jindal said.

Punjab Kings' Wadia hoped the decisions will be taken in favour of "all stakeholders" while adding that the matter of overseas players' availability was also discussed.

"We discussed several points, auctions, players, uncapped players. It was a good meeting, happy to be having a discussion with the BCCI and whatever will be done will be in favour of the fans, players and all the stakeholders," Wadia told the media.