IPL: Narine, Russell tipped to be retained by KKR
- Dhoni likely to be reunited with CSK; Kohli, de Villiers set to stay with RCB
Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers, David Warner, Steven Smith, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are among the players likely to be retained by their IPL franchises ahead of the player retention deadline on January 4.
The following are the names ESPNcricinfo understands the eight franchises have retained. The BCCI will reveal the list later in the day.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan (uncapped)
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah/Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris, Rishabh Pant
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Rajasthan Royals: Steven Smith
Kings XI Punjab: Axar Patel
The player retention is the first step towards the franchises reforming their squads ahead of the 2018 IPL player auction. After the 2017 IPL, the tenth year of the tournament, the existing squads were set to be disbanded, apart from the few players retained by the teams.
The IPL set the salary cap to form a squad for 2018 at INR 80 crore (approx. $12.4 million). A franchise is allowed to pick up to five of their existing players through a combination of retention ahead of the auction and the right-to-match card during the auction, scheduled for January 27 and 28 in Bangalore.
A team can retain up to three players ahead of the auction and use a maximum of three right-to-match cards during the auction.
If a franchise retains the maximum of three players before the auction, it will lose from the salary cap INR 15 crore for the first player, INR 11 crore for the second, and INR 7 crore for the third.
The IPL has also imposed a salary cap of INR 3 crore for uncapped players retained before the auction. Each franchise can retain a maximum of three capped India players, two overseas players and two uncapped Indian players.
However, if any of those players are paid more than those amounts, the actual amount paid will be deducted from the salary cap. And if the franchise negotiates with the player to pay a lower amount, it is the amount specified by the IPL that will be deducted from the salary cap.
For franchises retaining more than one player, the decision was whether to retain a third player who is capped. If a team retained three, it would lose INR 33 crore from the purse of INR 80 crore for the auction.
But if one of the three is an uncapped player, the franchise would save INR 4 crore (because the salary cap for an uncapped retained player is set at INR 3 crore) , which can be utilised at the auction. (ESPNCricinfo)
