The BCCI has set a salary cap of Rs 90 crore for 10 IPL franchises, including the two new entrants, for the next season and allowed a maximum of four retentions for the eight established teams.
The two new franchises -- Lucknow and Ahmedabad -- will be given a choice to pick three players from the auction pool after the old teams announce their choice of retentions.
"The BCCI had sent a letter to all the franchises, updating them about the new rules where four retentions will cost a team Rs 42 crore while three retentions will lead to reduction of Rs 33 crore," a senior IPL franchise official said.
"Two players retained will mean that Rs 24 crore is deducted while a single player retained means that one has to shell out Rs 14 crore out of the 90 crore purse," he added.
He also informed that retention amount and the amount paid to the player is not always the same.
"Suppose Delhi Capitals retains Rishabh Pant as their 'Player 1' among four maximum players, then the purse deducted will be Rs 16 crore. But in reality, Pant's actual take home salary is not the reflection of what is deducted from purse. It could be much lesser. I am just giving an example," the official stated.
In case of four retentions, it could be either three Indians and one foreign player or at the maximum two Indians and as many foreigners.
In case of the two new franchises, when they are allowed to select from the pool, they will have the right to pick two Indian and one foreign players from the available pool.
In case of uncapped players, the old franchises will get two picks and new ones will have one choice.
The letter stated that the entire month of November could be used for retention by eight old franchises and from December 1-25, Lucknow and Ahmedabad would get a chance to pick their three players before the auction in early January.
"The window for the eight existing teams to retain the players will be from the 1st November 2021 to 30th November 2021. Thereafter the 2 new teams will have the window to retain the players starting from 1st December 2021 to 25th December 2021," the letter said.
In case of salary purse deductions per player, there are separate figures for four distinct slabs.
In case of 'Slab 1' and four players retained -- 'Player 1' will be valued at Rs 16 crore, 'Player 2' at Rs 12 crore, 'Player 3' at Rs 8 crore and 'Player 4' at Rs 6 crore.
Therefore, the total purse deducted will be Rs 42 crore and that franchise will have Rs 48 crore to play with at the big auction.
In case of 'Slab 2', 'Player 1' is valued at Rs 15 crore, 'Player 2' at Rs 11 crore and 'Player 3' will have Rs 7 crore earmarked for deductions.
Therefore the total of Rs 33 crore will be deducted from full purse and that particular franchise will have Rs 57 crore to bid at auction.
For 'Slab 3', in which two retentions are possible, 'Player 1' is valued at Rs 14 crore and 'Player 2' at Rs 10 crore and a total of Rs 24 crore deducted from the purse.
The franchise, which opts for two retentions, will go in with Rs 66 crore at auction.
'Slab 4' will have only one retention available for Rs 14 crore and Rs 76 crore available for auction buy.
However, in case of an uncapped player being retained, the deduction will be Rs 4 crore.
While franchises have a month to retain their choice of players, here is a look at the likely retentions of eight original franchises and options available for Lucknow and Ahmedabad.
All likely options (3+1 or 2+2) (Subject to players agreeing to be retained):
1. Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Faf du Plessis/Moeen Ali/Dwayne Bravo (overseas)
2. Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard (overseas)
3. Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer (uncapped), Sunil Narine (overseas)
4. Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Glenn Maxwell (overseas)
5. Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw, Kagiso Rabada (overseas), Anrich Nortje (overseas)
6. Kings XI Punjab: No retentions likely as KL Rahul looking for new team
7. Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (if he agrees), Ben Stokes (if available post Ashes)
8. SunRisers Hyderabad: Rashid Khan (if he agrees)
Lucknow RP-SG: Shreyas Iyer, David Warner
Ahmedabad: Pandya brothers -- Hardik and Krunal.
