IPL 2014: The Player Retention

More than one month ahead of the player auctions for the upcoming 7th season of the Indian Premier League(IPL), the 8 franchises are being put through a very tough strategic test as they indulge in different permutations and combinations to combat the new right-to-match (joker's card) rule and emerge with a strong squad after the auctions.

The new right-to-match rule allows each of team to buy back some of their own players who they don't retain. The rules allow each franchise to retain five players  with only four capped Indian players.

The rules in brief

• Each franchise can retain five players, which will see its auction purse reduce proportionately
• Not more than four capped India players can be retained in each squad
• Depending on how many players it retains, each franchise will have a certain number of right-to-match cards to use at the auction
• Retention plus the card gives each franchise a maximum of six players from its previous squad

According to this rule, after the bidding for the player is closed, the franchise that owned him in the 2013 season have a veto-like power to reclaim him at the price at which he was bid for.

 Teams that retain three to five players from their 2013 squad, have the option of using right-to-match on one additional player.
 If they retain one or two players, they can use right-to-match on two players while teams that don't retain a single member of their previous squad, can use right-to-match on three players.

24 players retained by 8 franchises; CSK, MI, RR retain 5 each

Chennai Super Kings(CSK) retained -

• M S Dhoni
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Suresh Raina
• R Aswin and
• Dwayne Bravo

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL

Royal Challenger Banglaore(RCB) retained -

• Virat Kohli
• AB de Villiers and
• Chris Gayle

for the 7th edition of the 014 IPL

Rajasthan Royals(RR)retained -

• Shane Watson
• James Faulkner
• Sanju Samson
• Ajinkya Rahane and
• Stuart Binny

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL

Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR)retained

• Gautam Gambhir and
• Sunil Narine

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL

Mumbai Indians(MI)retain

• Rohit Sharma 
• Harbhajan Singh
• Ambati Rayudu
• Lasith Malinga and
• Kieron Pollard

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL

Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH)retain
Shikhar Dhawan and
Dale Steyn

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)

David Miller and
Manan Vohra 

for the 7th edition of the2014 IPL


Delhi Daredevils unanimously decided against retention of their existing players going into the auction.
The team management explaining the decision said, "it was the unanimous decision of the management with the focus of building a fresh team that the fans would be proud of".