The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally managed to complete the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) successfully as the final was played between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night. Soon after the tournament ended, reports have now suggested that the Indian board is in no mood of cancelling the mega auction scheduled for next year.
As reported by The New Indian Express, the Indian board has already informed the franchises to start preparing for the mega auction.
“The BCCI has told us to be prepared for an auction in a couple of months. Though it is not official, that they have asked us to be ready means they will go ahead as planned. Moreover, with a new team coming in, it makes sense to have an auction now rather than deferring it by a year,” a franchise official told TNIE.
In an interesting turn of events, the board is also planning to include a new team for the upcoming edition. The report added that the ninth team will be from Ahmedabad and a corporate house is very keen on making the new Sardar Patel Stadium as its home ground.
At mega auctions, while franchises are allowed to retain three key players and two more through Right To Match (RTM) options, there’s no clarity over the retention policy yet for the upcoming mega auction.
“The retention policy should continue even if a new team comes in because at this stage, it won’t be wise to have all players in the auction pool. Teams will have to compromise on brand value which is built on their star players,” said another franchise official.
