- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to hold a two-day mega Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on February 7 and 8 in Bengaluru, a senior board official on Wednesday (22) said.
The event could be the final mega auction that the BCCI might conduct since most of the original IPL franchises no longer want it.
“Unless the Covid-19 situation worsens, we will have the IPL mega auction in India. The two-day event will be held on February 7 and 8 and like other years, we plan to hold it in Bengaluru. Preparations are underway,” the official told Press Trust of India on conditions of anonymity.
There were also reports that the auction will be held in the United Arab Emirates but it was also learnt that the BCCI has no such plans as of now.
With the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and cases increasing, the situation remains fluid but if there are restrictions regarding overseas travel (unless all the owners decide to use charter planes), organising the auction in India will be less problematic from the logistical point of view.
The 2022 edition of the IPL will be a 10-time affair with Lucknow and Ahmedabad set to make their debut along with the eight existing franchises in the cash-rich tournament.
Lucknow is owned by industrialist Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG Group while venture capital firm CVC Capital Partners owns Ahmedabad though it is awaiting the Letter of Intent from the BCCI which is expected to be cleared in the next few weeks.
Both the new entrants have time till Christmas to announce their three draft picks but the BCCI might extend the dates for both since the CVC is yet to get the clearance.
Most of the franchise-owners are of the opinion that the mega auctions have gone past their sell-by-date and a team’s balance and composition get severely affected when there are auctions after every three years.
Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal said on record that it gets tough to release players after having put all efforts to build a team.
“It is very sad to lose Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada and Ashwin. The auction process itself is something like this. Going forward, IPL should look at this because it’s not that you build a team, give chances to young players, groom them and get them opportunities from franchises, play for the country and then you lose them after three years,” Jindal said after the players’ retention was announced November 30.
