The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises have suggested a two-year suspension for foreign players who withdraw during the season after being bought at auction without a valid reason. Additionally, they have asked the IPL to mandate that foreign players register for the mega auction rather than only participating in mini-auctions where they may expect to fetch high prices.  

There have been several instances in the IPL of foreign players pulling out before the start of a season. The reasons put forward by them are mostly stated as personal reasons, and they often lack clarity. The teams pointed out that such late pullouts have a detrimental effect on team performance because strategies are devised keeping these overseas names in mind and their sudden unavailability leaves the franchises scrambling to find replacements from a much shallower pool of international talent.

The franchises informed the IPL that they may accept it if the player’s board decided to withdraw him to fulfill an international duty, if he sustained an injury, or if he had private commitments that prevented him from joining the team. As long as the player’s availability for the IPL season was known at the time of the auction, they were happy to make these adjustments.

The issue faced by most of the franchises is players pulling out after getting a lower price in the auction. They also cited a few instances where the player’s managers asked the franchises to pay more to regain the player. The other major issue that brought all the sides on the same page was the international players not registering for the mega auctions.

The chances of players getting a higher bid are more at the mini-auctions, given there are very few spots available and the supply of high-quality talent is low. All the franchises want to capitalize on the chances by buying some big names. While in the Mega auctions with a larger purse and supply and a team to build the prices aren’t that high.

The highest bid for a player in the most recent mega auction in 2022 was INR 15.25 crore (about USD 2.03 million), with Ishan Kishan going to the Mumbai Indians. Two bids above that amount were made for Mitchell Starc (INR 24.75 crore, or about USD 2.98 million) and Pat Cummins (INR 20.50 crore, or approximately USD 2.47 million) at the most recent mini auction.

The IPL had to implement specific checks because the franchises believed that some of these players and their management were trying to manipulate the system. Larger stars have to register for mega auctions, and if they go unsold then they could enter the mini auction in the next season.  The teams stated they understood if a fresh or up-and-coming foreign player signed up for mini-auctions