It is hard to believe, isn’t it? The richest board in the world, the most arrogant board in the world following the Marylebone years of England and Australia, it really is hard to believe that BCCI surrendered to the franchises. There is a reason I am saying this because of the new IPL rules. I really thought that the BCCI being so tough, will not agree to the changes that was proposed by the IPL franchises. How wrong was I? It clearly shows who is running the IPL. The various franchises may pump hordes of cash into acquiring the players from various walks of life. However, BCCI being the patron of the game in the country, must have the final say. However, it seems that it is not the case. The BCCI surrenders to franchise.
Impact player
There were a lot of calls for scrapping the impact player rule. It made the bowlers impotent because every team knew that with an extra batsman, those at the top can bat aggressively without worrying about the consequences. Already, T20 cricket is loaded in favour of the batsman. It is impossible to get 10 wickets in 20 overs and as such, scores in the region of 180 is the norm. With the impact player, it shot upto 260. Sunriser Hyderabad even had the audacity to target 300. 300 runs in T20 overs is mindboggling. It actually means that the BCCI or for that matter, none of the boards care about the bowlers.
If only this rule had been scrapped, a score in the region of 180 woud have been saner. However, it is not to be. Ofcourse, the franchises do not mind this rule. The opposition came from the commentators and the watching public but they have fallen on deaf ears.
Uncapped player and Dhoni
This is the height of stupidity. “A capped Indian player will become uncapped, if the player has in the last five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant Season is held, not played in the starting XI in International Cricket (Test match, ODI, Twenty20 International) or does not have a Central Contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian Players only,” said IPL.
This was the demand of Chennai Super Kings alone to facilitate retention of Dhoni but release the amount that was charged to him. What sort of nonsense is this? Dhoni is 42 years old with hardly any cricket left in him. The fact that he came at number 9 in the previous season showed that he does not have any confidence in him. Yet, CSK persists with him just to make money. This is utterly unprofessional and BCCI for the sake of one franchise alone, have introduced a new rule about uncapped player. If this is not surrender, what is?
Retentions
A maximum of 4 players were allowed to be retained by every franchise, which is fair enough. They can decide on the best players to retain and release the rest. They also had the option of picking them up during the auction. Ofcourse, they still have this option but the number of players who can be retained has been increased to 6. The RTM card, Right to Match has also been reintroduced.
Ofcourse, it all depends on whether a particular franchise is willing to increase the bid price for a player knowing well that another franchise is holding the RTM card and thereby they have a better chance of holding onto that player should they exercise the card. It could so happen that a franchise will increase the bid just enough so that the team with the RTM can claim that player. This in effect will reduce the size of the second franchise with the RTM card.
The BCCI has given time till 5PM IST on 31 October 2014 for franchises to finalise and submit a list of retained players ahead of the auction.
Auction purse and player availability
This is alright. The purse has now been increased to 120 Crores. This will allow the franchises to spend that much more on the players. The players are the actual beneficiaries. As for player availability, the BCCI states, “”Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn’t register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year’s player auction.”
“Any player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 Seasons.”
This is a welcome move. The foreign players for one reason or the other, pulls out of the tournament thereby throwing the plans of the team in a dizzy. This will persuade the players to think carefully. Ofcourse, it all depends on whether the foreign player cares.
Wrapping up BCCI surrenders to franchise
Well, the BCCI could have directly accepted the proposals when they were raised a month ago instead of wasting everyone’s time.
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