Warne proposes 'super rounds', no player retention for future IPLs

Shane Warne, the Rajasthan Royals captain, has put forward his suggestions to take the IPL into its fourth season and beyond, with total transparency and the absence of any favouritism to any franchises the main principles. Two radical ideas - expressed in an article on his website - are a mid-tournament player transfer window and franchises being allowed three 'super rounds', where they can field an extra international player.

The current three-year player contracts will expire before the 2011 season, in which two new franchises will be included, and Warne's own participation is in doubt.

There is much speculation, and concern on the part of some players such as Sachin Tendulkar, over whether franchises will retain the core of their current teams. If this happened, Warne felt, it would be a disadvantage to the new franchises; instead, he suggested all players be put up for auction and the original franchises be allowed to buy them back for a premium.

"No retention of players is a must for to achieve total transparency in regards to the salary cap. It will increase the creditability of the IPL as the players' final price will be established at the auction, whatever that may be," wrote Warne on his website. "However, the player can then be offered back to his original franchise for an extra $50,000.

"If the player is important to the franchise, the extra $50,000 will be paid to the player to keep him at the franchise; if not, he plays for his new franchise. All players bought at the auction should continue to receive three-year contract for the auction value per year."

He called for a raise in the salary cap from the proposed $7million to $9 million; he explained that around $5 million would be spent on half a dozen key players alone.

He also stressed that all franchises appoint their captains well before the auction and not include them in the salary cap.

"If a franchise wants a particular captain, either their existing captain or a new one, they need to negotiate and agree to a deal," wrote Warne. "If current captains cannot agree to a deal, he can potentially move to a new franchise as their captain or enter the auction. This will allow for owners, coaches and the captain to make their plans and strategies well before auction time."

As for the way the tournament panned out, Warne said franchises should be allowed three 'super rounds', to be used at their discretion, where they could play five overseas players instead of four.

Warne also advocated a trade period be put into place during the mid-point of the tournament to allow franchises swap one player if they felt the need. This would not be compulsory, he said. "If they did choose to trade a player, it would be on a loan basis for a set amount of games, perhaps three This could be a great option to recruit an international player who is not being used by another franchise."