If a player doesn't come to play the season he should be banned: Kavya Maran

All Indian Premier League franchises are bracing for the Mega Auction ahead of the 2025 season. During the IPL Governing Council meeting on July 31, one development that likely was noticed was players not showing up for the league after being picked. Sunrisers Hyderabad owner, Kavya Maran, provided no-nonsense feedback highlighting the issue and opined that players should be banned if the reason for unavailability is other than injury. 

During IPL 2024, several English players flew back home during the tournament citing commitment to national duties. Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone returned for a series against Pakistan. Moreover, SRH signed Sri Lanka spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, for INR 1.5 crore and the cricketer cited an injury to stay away from the league which was not received well by the management.

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"After being selected in the auction, if a player doesn't come to play the season for any reason apart from injury, he should be banned. The franchises put in a lot of effort into the auction to form their combinations. If a player goes for a low amount in the auction, and subsequently doesn't turn up, it affects the combination and the balance of the side. There have been many instances of overseas players not turning up for this reason," Kavya said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Franchise should split amount among retained players: Kavya

Several reports emerged stating the franchises pushing for an extension in caps set for player retention from four to six. The Right to Match (RTM) rule was also requested to be of more usefulness for teams to stake claim on key players. Kavya furthered the demands and opined that teams should have the right to fix the salary for retained players, differing from the earlier fixed rule of ranging from INR 16 crore to INR 6 crore in a descending manner.

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"The franchise should have the discretion of how they split the amount among the retained players. This will prevent situations of conflict where players feel that they are of the same calibre but one player gets a higher amount, while the other lower based on pre-assigned brackets. This will also eliminate the potential of off-contract payments," she added.