The time has come when the IPL is gaining momentum ahead of the upcoming season. Now that the retention list is out, all eyes will be on the mega auctions to be held in January next year. The franchise-model sport is grabbing all attention even as a bilateral contest between India and New Zealand is underway. The unfailing business model of IPL has made it a global success, attracting best of cricketing talents from across the globe. For the eight old franchises participating in the IPL, retention of their top guns was a choice between player loyalty and affordable alternatives that would be there at auctions. Over the past decade, certain players have become the trademark of their respective franchise teams. IPL retention, to a certain extent, appears to be a reward for their loyalty. Alternatively, it can also be said that franchises hinge on to their signature players because of their popularity being associated with the team. As per the rulebook, the franchises are allowed a purse of Rs 90 crore, which they are supposed to spend on either retention or the auctions. While the retention offers a chance to go ahead with the stars associated with the team, the auctions are a place where a fresh and old pool of talent is on offer. The teams are allowed to retain a maximum of four players. Of the retained players, a maximum of three could be Indian — capped or uncapped. Also, the teams could retain no more than two overseas players and no more than two uncapped players. If a team decides to retain four players, then player-1, player-2, player-3 and Player-4 would be retained hierarchically at Rs 16 crore, Rs 12 crore, Rs 8 crore and Rs 6 crore — amounting to the total purse of 42 crores. Three players would be retained at — player-1 (Rs 15 crore), player-2 (Rs 11 crore) and player-3 (Rs 7 crore) — amounting to the total of 33 crores. For the retention of two players, the total cost would be Rs 24 crore — Rs 14 crore for the player-1 and Rs 10 crore for the player-2. And finally, a single player could be retained at Rs 14 crore. Going by the rules, Mumbai Indians retained its maximum set of Indian players (in the priority order) — Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav — apart from the star overseas hitter, Keiron Pollard as the fourth player. The team is now left with a purse of Rs 48 crores for the auctions. Three other teams — Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals — went on to retain four players. While Kolkata Knight Riders retained the maximum number of overseas players, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals retained the maximum number of Indian players. Chennai retained seasoned cricketers like Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 16 crore), MS Dhoni (Rs 12 crore) and Moeen Ali (Rs 8 core) along with emerging star Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 6.5 crore). Delhi Capitals appears to go ahead with its principle of grooming young players as it retained Rishabh Pant (Rs 16 crore), Axar Patel (Rs 9 crore) and Prithvi Shaw (Rs 7.5 crore) along with Anrich Nortje (Rs 6 crore). Surprisingly, Delhi has dropped Shreyas Iyer from the retention list. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals retained three players each. Punjab Kings retained the least number of players — including Mayank Agarwal (Rs 12 crore) and Arshdeep Singh (Rs 4 crore). The team is left with a purse of Rs 72 crores for the auctions. KL Rahul will likely part ways with Punjab Kings, with speculations getting wider that he may join one of the two new franchises. Punjab decided not to retain Rahul as per 'his wish'. It would also be interesting to see how things pan out for Sunrisers Hyderabad which was among the favorites last season. The team will come to ground without two of its towering stars — David Warner and Rashid Khan who decided not to be retained. Hyderabad has retained Kane Williamson (Rs 14 crore), Abdul Samad (Rs 4 core) and Umran Malik (Rs 4 crore). The two new franchises — Lucknow and Hyderabad — are yet to pick players for their teams. Now that the retention list is out, the two teams can pick three players each from the auction pool of last year before the auction process for the upcoming season starts next month. Addition of these two teams has added an extra layer of excitement among cricket lovers. The IPL 2022 has started gaining momentum. Expect unending excitement over the coming months.