Teams may retain three players, said IPL GC

Ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the eight IPL franchises are likely to be permitted to retain up to three players.The proposal came at an IPL governing council meeting in New Delhi.

As per the proposal, the franchises could be allowed to retain a combination of two Indian and an overseas player or picking up two overseas and an Indian player.

The matter will be further discussed at the meeting scheduled next week, before making a final call on November 14 with all eight franchises.

The new development, if comes into effect, would benefit the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) who are back in the fray after serving a two-year suspension and are looking forward to retain certain players.

Meanwhile, IPL GC has approved the Rajasthan Royals’ request for their name to be changed for the upcoming season. Returning to the fold, after serving a two-year suspension, they had written to the council asking for a change in name as they plan to move their base to Lucknow or Kanpur. The change of city might not be the only change in Rajasthan Royals’ set up as there are indications that the RP Goenka group, headed by Sanjiv Goenka, which owned the Rising Pune Supergiant, are now interested in buying the franchise for around Rs 1000 crore.

The Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions that replaced the above two teams will not be part of the new IPL season.

The 2018 edition of India's lucrative T20I league is slated to take place from April 4 to May 31.

^{source: indiatvnews, newindianexpress}