Jay Shah, Sourav Ganguly, Rohit Sharma, IPL 2020, BCCI, IPL
Jay Shah, Sourav Gangly handover the IPL trophy to MI captain Rohit Sharma. (Photo: IPL)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is pondering over allowing the two new IPL teams to have ‘special picks’ ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2022.

Next year’s IPL will see the addition of two new teams, making up for a 10-team tournament. The process of the sale of the teams is in progress and a confirmation is to be made by the end of this month.

Since the original 8 teams are surely going to be given retentions of a few players, the board is considering allowing the two new teams to pick players outside of the auction, as reported by Cricbuzz on Thursday.

IPL auction, IPL 2021 Auction
IPL 2021 auction. Image-BCCI/IPL

“Sources within the BCCI and the franchises have indicated that the two teams will be able to pick a few players among those who have enrolled themselves into the auction. The exact mechanism for picking the players is being worked out but unmistakably, the players taken will be the big names and their fee will be decided mutually by the franchise and the player,” a report in Cricbuzz said.

This move is to keep fairness for the two new franchises, giving them an opportunity to bag some of the biggest names without the requirement of buying them at the auction table.

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“The number of ‘special picks’ has not been decided yet but it is understood to be two or three, but the final number will be decided basing the number of retentions allowed for the eight existing teams,” the report added.

Further, about the number of retentions, the eight current franchises could be allowed up to 4 retentions – with 3 Indians and one overseas player, or a maximum of 3 Indians and a maximum of 2 foreigners with the total not exceeding four.

Also, it is believed that if 4 retentions are allowed, it is unlikely there will be any Right to Match (RTM) cards, like they were in the previous mega-auction. The BCCI is expected to reveal the retention policy while announcing the two new teams later this month or soon after that.

BCCI extends date the sale of Invitation to Tender for the new IPL teams

BCCI
BCCI. Image-PTI.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has postponed the sale of Invitation to Tender (ITT) by another 10 days, extending the deadline from October 10 to 20. The reason for this postponement is because of requests from some new parties who are looking to own the new IPL franchise.

“Pursuant to requests from various interested parties, BCCI has now decided to further extend the date for purchasing the ITT document till October 20, 2021,” the BCCI said in a statement on October 13.

The BCCI has fixed Rs 2500 crore net worth for an individual wanting to buy a team. Besides, the companies bidding should have a turnover of Rs 3000 crore.

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The Kolkata Knight Riders will meet MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2021 final, to be played on Friday in Dubai.

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