Ban overseas players who pull out after auction without legit reasons: Here’s what IPL franchises demand from BCCI

Amid concerns that overseas players who were bought at the auction will make themselves unavailable for the season, the Indian Premier League franchises have recommended a two-year ban on them, reported Cricinfo on 3 August.

In a meeting on 31 July, the IPL franchises also sought to make it mandatory for overseas players to register for the mega auctions and not just mini-auctions, anticipating potentially large price tags.

The following two demands by the franchises merged after multiple overseas players pulled out on the eve of a new season, citing personal reasons.

The franchises noted that these late pullouts have a detrimental effect on team performance as sudden unavailability of such players take a toll on the strategy and the franchises have to scramble to find their replacements.

Though the franchises agreed that cases when player's board asks them to pull out to honour an international commitment or injury or family commitments can be understood. However, other personal reasons can cause difficulty for the franchises.

Recent Examples:

The report added that one such example franchise noted included players pulling out and their managers telling a franchise his client could be available if he was paid more.

Between 2018-24, few overseas players skipped the mega auctions, but were available for the mini-auctions in order to attract big bids. In 2022 mega auction, the highest bid for a player was ₹15.25 crore, where Ishan Kishan went to Mumbai Indians.

While at the recent mini-auction, Australia's Mitchell Starc was bought for ₹24.75 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders, and Pat Cummins was sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹20.50 crore.

Looking at the whole scenario, the franchises noted that the players and their managers are trying to play a game with them. Therefore, the franchises were of the view that a system is needed to keep a check on this irregularity. They have sought that bigger names register for mega auctions, and in case they go unsold, they can enter the mini-auction the following season.