IPL 2025: Tom Moody breaks silence on BCCI going hard on foreign players

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody came out in support of the new rule brought by the Indian Premier League about the overseas players. Moody feels that overseas players need to fully commit themselves to the tournament if they want to play it.

Recently, the IPL governing council announced its new rules before the mega auction for the next season.

According to one of those rules, an overseas player will not be able to register for a mega auction if he does not register for the preceding mini-auction.

The exception will only be provided in case of any injury to the player which has to be confirmed by the player's home board.

"Any overseas player will have to register for the big auction. In case the player does not register, then he will have to miss the subsequent small auction. The only exception will be in case of an injury/medical condition which will have to be confirmed by the (player's) home board before the big auction," an IPL statement read.

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Tom Moody backs IPL's new rule

While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Tom Moody backed this rule and claimed that some of the overseas players used to make themselves unavailable for the mega auction and instead opted to be a part of the mini-auction to receive a huge price.

But the new rule will help players like Jasprit Bumrah get a deserving price according to their commitment. He mentioned that overseas players need to commit themselves to their franchises unless they are injured.

"Yeah, I think it's a very good thing (overseas players' compulsion to be available for mega auction). We have seen for too long that players coming out for mini-auction and get a huge payday because of supply and demand forces of that particular year," Moody said.

"You have got the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and others getting paid well underneath than what they (overseas players) are getting paid. That doesn't sit well with me. If you are committed to the tournament, you should be committed through thick and thin. If you are injured or there is some health issue, that's absolutely fine, that's unavoidable. You are either in or you are not," the former Australia allrounder added.

Tom Moody's experience in IPL

Tom Moody has previously worked in the coaching staff of various IPL teams and thus, understands the value of the commitment of a player towards a franchise.

Moody started his IPL coaching career as the coach of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the early years of the tournament.

He moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013. SRH went on to become the IPL champions with Tom Moody as the coach in the year 2016.

Over the years, many overseas players have made huge profits with the flaw in the rule and thus, make themselves available for only mini auctions. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins fetched huge amounts last season as the teams tend to break their purse on any specialist player.

However, as the rule has been modified now, the players will have to make themselves available for mega auctions as well. Meanwhile, the teams have to send a list of all their retained players to the IPL by October 31.