Mahi may be back with CSK next year
New Delhi, Oct. 24: Set to make a comeback next season, tainted teams Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals might be allowed to retain players who played for Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions in the last two years, going by a proposal floated by the IPL Governing Council.
The move, if agreed upon by franchises during next month’s workshop, will pave way for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s much-anticipated return to Chennai Super Kings. “We are going to propose minimum three retentions — 1 Indian and 2 foreigners. The players, who played for Pune and Gujarat in last two years can be retained by Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. We will place it in front of owners during workshop next month,” an IPL GC member said.
The proposal if accepted will mean that Dhoni, who played for Rising Pune Supergiants in the last two editions, will be automatically retained by CSK. It was also learnt that majority of the franchises want an increase in salary purse from `60 cr to `75 crore while a few want it to be `80 crore. “Most of the franchises want the salary purse to `75 crore. I guess it would be done” the official said.
Meanwhile in another development, the BCCI will be earning a token amount of `5 lakh from Chennai Super Kings as a part of 5 per cent earnings from total valuation of a franchise that transfers its ownership.
Chennai Super Kings is now under the wings of Chennai Super Kings Company Limited with India Cements transferring its shares to the newly formed limited company. As per IPL rules, any transfer of ownership will mean that BCCI will get 5 per cent of the total valuation. Accordingly, BCCI is expected to get `5 lakh and senior officials are not amused. “This is bizarre but true. We will get `5 lakh but we are trying to take legal opinion,” the official said.