SRH boss Kavya Maran goes to war with BCCI on Overseas Player Retentions; demands action from Jay Shah

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) CEO Kavya Maran has urged lifting the cap on the number of foreign players a franchise can retain in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction in 2025.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) CEO proposed that each IPL team should be allowed to retain at least six players or have six Right to Match (RTM) options in the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction.

SRH CEO Kavya Maran proposes up to six retentions or RTMs for teams in the IPL 2025 Mega Auction

During a meeting between the IPL team owners and BCCI officials on Wednesday, July 31, Maran has stressed the importance of granting each team this flexibility to retain or match bids for key players ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Kavya Maran was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “We can use it as four retentions and two RTMS, or all six retentions, or all six RTMS, and so on. The choice on whether a retention or RTM is used should be with the franchise based on discussions with the player.”

The SRH CEO has pointed out that players have often preferred to enter the IPL auction if they felt their retention amount was too low. There have also been cases where players expected to be the top retention and requested to be put up for auction if they were not prioritized.

To address this issue, Maran suggested allowing players the option to be retained or given a Right to Match (RTM) at the market value. She added, “To avoid such situations, we can give the players the chance to either be retained or RTM at the market discovered price, ensuring that the player is not disgruntled about the retention price.”

Kavya Maran calls for end to foreign player retention cap ahead of IPL 2025 Auction

Meanwhile, Kavya Maran strongly believes that the limit on retaining foreign players should be removed by the IPL Governing Council and the BCCI, as they allowed the teams to retain a maximum of two foreign players last time.

Explaining the reason behind her suggestion, the SRH boss said that each team has a unique composition and strengths, with some relying heavily on foreign players while others have a stronger mix of capped or uncapped Indian players.

For example, Kavya’s SRH team relies heavily on a strong group of overseas players, so she suggested that franchises should have the flexibility to decide how many foreign, capped, or uncapped players they retain based on their specific needs and strategy. She also said that the retired players should not be treated as uncapped players like the legendary MS Dhoni.

Maran said at the meeting: “Each team is built differently, and the core strengths of various squads are different. Some have strong overseas players, some have strong capped Indian players, and some have strong uncapped players. In our case, we have a strong core of overseas players.

The number of capped/uncapped/overseas players retained should be at the discretion of the franchise and not restricted. For example, we can retain four overseas and two capped Indians or three overseas and three uncapped Indians and so on.”