The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will have its mega auctions on February 12 and February 13, in Bengaluru and with the addition of two new teams- Ahmedabad and Lucknow, 10 teams will be involved in the exciting IPL auctions.
Keeping the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, it was decided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the mega IPL auctions will take place in a bio-bubble.
1,214 cricketers had registered for the auctions and out of those 896 cricketers were Indians and the remaining 318 players are overseas.
The highest base price for the upcoming auctions has been decided as Rs 2 Crore.
Two new entrants
Ahmedabad and Lucknow- the two new teams, have roped in three players each for the 15th edition of IPL. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was roped in by the Ahmedabad franchise for Rs 15 Crore and Pandya is set to lead the franchise as well. Apart from Pandya, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan (Rs 15 Crore) and Indian batsman Shubman Gill (Rs 8 Crore) were also signed by the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
On the other hand, Lucknow team announced India batsman KL Rahul as their skipper for the upcoming edition of the tournament. Rahul was signed by Lucknow for Rs 17 Crore. Apart from Rahul, Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (Rs 9.2 Crore) and Indian cricketer Ravi Vishnoi (Rs 4 Crore) were also roped in by the Lucknow franchise.
The remaining eight IPL teams had been allowed to retain a maximum of four cricketers ahead of the auction. Out of these four retentions only one cricketer can be from foreign country. All the 10 franchises were allotted a purse of Rs 90 Crore. It was initially decided that all the teams will have a purse of Rs 80 Crore but later the amount was increased and it was made Rs 90 Crore.
The probable venues
There were plenty of discussions regarding the venue of the upcoming edition of IPL as the last two seasons had to be played in UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year also things got a little uncertain after the advent of Omicron- a new variant of Covid-19 virus but now it seems that the IPL will be entirely held in India this time with Mumbai and Pune expected to host the matches.
The upcoming IPL season is expected to begin in the last week of March. And the tournament is slated to go on till the month of May.
Regarding the crowd and attendance it is understood that planning is being made to allow 25 per cent capacity crowd in the stadiums but it is needless to mention that these things will totally depend on the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
