BCCI's meeting with IPL team owners to be held on July 31: How many retentions and RTM franchises want?

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The much-awaited meeting between the BCCI and the IPL owners is set to be held on July 31 in Mumbai. The venue for the meeting has been confirmed, but it has been learnt that the BCCI is interested to host the team owners at their newly-refurbished office at Wankhede Stadium complex.

Several team Owners have confirmed about the meeting date which has been communicated to them by BCCI CEO Hemang Amin on Thursday morning. The number of players franchises can retain, whether to bring back the Right To Match (RTM) option, and the salary cap of teams and retained players are among the agendas to be discussed.

ESPNcricinfo has reported that franchises have suggested BCCI officials allow the retention of four to six players. A few of them have also reckoned that eight right-to-match (RTM) options should be given to the teams.

In the 2018 mega auction, franchises were allowed to retain up to five players - three from the auction and others via RTM option. In 2022, the RTM was done away with, and only four retentions were allowed. The changes were made in the wake of the introduction of two new teams - Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The idea was to give a fair opportunity to GT and LSG to compose a competitive team.

However, teams are batting hard for the reintroduction of RTM. This would help the teams to keep their core unit intact, and also the players to get their best price. The RTM option could save a player from monetary disappointment if he is last in the pecking order of retained players. Notably, the first retained player by a team gets the maximum salary. Franchises have also argued that their branding gets impacted if they involuntarily let go players who have played a key role in building their image.

Reports have also suggested that teams want a mega auction every five years to allow space for continuity, and investment on local and budding talents.