India Capitals and Bhilwara Kings announced player retention on Tuesday for the upcoming season of Legends League Cricket starting November 3. The franchisee season with a pool of more than 200 players, is to be played across five cities in India – Ranchi, Dehradun, Jammu, Vizag, and Surat. The second season of the franchisee edition of Legends League Cricket will have 19 matches and is all set to start from 18th November to 9th December 2023, as per the release.
As per the retention policy announced by Legends League Cricket, a maximum of 3 players can be retained by each team. Also, the new teams can acquire a maximum of 3 players from the remaining player pool. The last rule of the policy states that, if less than 3 players are acquired by a team, then they get to pick the remaining player(s) from the pool after the new teams have acquired their players.
The defending champions, India Capitals have retained their captain Gautam Gambhir and the highest wicket taker of last season Pravin Tambe to solidify their squad. The Runners-up of the previous season, Bhilwara Kings, owned by the LNJ Bhilwara Group, have retained their captain, Irfan Pathan. They have also retained their star players Yusuf Pathan who was the player of the series, and Shane Watson.
The League is planning to announce the Draft event dates for the season soon, along with the comprehensive player pool. The season 2 of the league’s franchise model is most likely to feature some of the biggest names of the cricket world.
Ravi Shastri, Commissioner, Legends League Cricket said, “The game is getting bigger each day at Legends League Cricket. With more and more players joining, we must keep the fire burning and give fans the chance to witness the best competitive cricket across the new venues. I would say that Legends are going to rock this season.”
