The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League starts on April 4, 2018 but before that comes the player auctions. The auction has been a feature of the IPL since its inception and one that has often decided a team’s fate for that year’s tournament. This year’s auction was supposed to be a rather all-encompassing one with the so-called ’10-year rule’ being activated.,,The rule stated that every 10 years, all players, regardless of their value to their respective franchise, were required to be released and made available in the auction pool. This though was effectively negated after the BCCI allowed franchisees to retain five players each. The franchisees submitted a list of the players they would like to retain on January 4. The retention policy stated that they could retain either three players through direct retention or a maximum of three through Right to Match cards, the latter of which will play a role in the upcoming auctions.