Kisma Feature: One significant advantage that the new franchise had over older teams in IPL 2022

The league is watched by millions of fans worldwide as it involves the participation of world-class cricketers across the globe. To conduct a tournament at a global level requires the management to be very fair while drafting rules and regulations for teams, players, and owners. 

Retention rules are pretty straightforward, but introducing two new franchises and mega auctions added a twist to the plot. One such rule was the rule of retention and scope of negotiation with players. This season, the existing eight franchises were allowed to retain only four players. 

What's the ambiguity in this?

The primary rule of a retention policy is that the players can't negotiate with other franchises even if their parent team does not retain them until the retention list is announced officially. On similar grounds, however, the inclusion of two new franchises introduced scope for the franchise to pick three players from outside.  

One such incident occurred back in 2010 when Ravindra Jadeja was slapped with a one-year ban notice. The IPL statement back then read, "The ban was on account of Ravindra Jadeja not signing the renewal contract with the Rajasthan Royals and attempting instead to negotiate a larger financial contract with some of the other IPL franchises, thus resulting in a serious non-adherence to the IPL player guidelines."

And thus, with the scope of negotiation between players and new franchises, somewhere down the line affected, the power of old franchises to retain a few players. Some reports linked that KL Rahul and Rashid Khan were talking with new franchises even before the official retention list was announced. And a franchise CEO agreed that the arrival of two new franchises had made things a little tricky.

"With eight franchises, the unretained players would have gone straight to the auction pool. But now, as we have two new teams, there's a possibility that players who know they will not be retained, can start behind-the-scenes negotiations. You can't prevent that and we have seen reports about some players making overtures," the franchise official told The Indian Express. 

The new franchises have qualified for the playoffs in their inaugural season. At the same time, Lucknow Super Giants retained Punjab Kings' former captain, KL Rahul. The opening batter and skipper led his team to many wins with his memorable knocks and experience. At the same time, this year's table topper Gujrat Titans retained Mumbai Indians' super strength - Hardik Pandya as captain and the strongest pillar of Sunrisers Hyderabad - Rashid Khan, as vice-captain. They both have made immense contributions to their former franchises. And now, playing for the same team, they have rocked the opponents, irrespective of the role and position they have stepped in. 

Therefore, to give a fair chance to new franchises to build a strong team by choosing three retained players, they gave a scope of negotiation to players, which became a significant disadvantage for already existing franchises.