The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to impose a two-year ban on overseas players pulling out of the tournament after being picked during the IPL auction. According to ESPN Cricinfo, the franchises asked IPL to put out a strong word as foreign players have withdrew from the tournament in the past after being picked in the auction unless it's due to a legitimate reason.
In a document shared with all ten franchises that stated the retention rules, it said: "any player who registers for [an] auction and after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season, will get banned from participating in the IPL/IPL auction for two seasons."
England opener Jason Roy had notably pulled out of IPL 2024 for personal reasons after the Kolkata Knight Riders had retained him, having been picked in the previous edition for ₹2.8 crore. Mitchell Starc, who was the most expensive player in the auction ahead of the 2024 edition, pulled out of IPL 2018. However, it was due to an injury.
BCCI makes it mandatory for overseas players to register for mega auction:
The Indian cricket board has also made it mandatory for the overseas players to participate in mega auctions to prevent any undue advantage of earning big bucks during mini auctions as franchises tend to splurge enormous amounts to plug any potential holes in their squad. This was evident during the IPL 2024 auction as the Kolkata Knight Riders acquired Starc for ₹24.75 crore and the SunRisers Hyderabad bought Pat Cummins for ₹20.50 crore.
The document states, "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. 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."
The franchises have been asked to submit their list of retained players by October 31st.
