Mega Auction In Indian Premier League Unlikely In Future

While the mega-auction of Indian Premier League has always fascinated the cricketing world across the family, the franchises have not enjoyed it too much, and the reasons are quite obvious. No franchise would like to build a team from scratch after establishing a solid core and not surprisingly the auctions have always faced reluctance from the franchises who have a strong core group.

Well, the mega auctions could be a thing of past in the upcoming years as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling over the idea of introducing a draft system for IPL.

In this year’s auction, which was the biggest one since the inaugural season in 2008, a total of 578 players were auctioned out of which 169 players were sold.

Hemang Amin, Chief Operating Officer, insisted that the mega-auctions are unlikely in future and a players’ draft could come into place.

“This time, we had this big auction after four years because we had two suspended teams (back after two years). So, we extended the player regulations by one year and had the auction after four years. Going forward, the thinking is we will not have this mega auction but will also consider having a draft system for new players, which can act as a feeder system for the team also. The IPL GC is already thinking on those lines…how to cut down on the big auctions and have continuity with the teams,” said Amin after the recently-concluded auction in Bangalore.

“If you look at the 2014 auction, we had presented around 320 players before going into the accelerated bidding process. This time, we have learnt from previous years. We presented 170 players of which around 120 were sold. If you compare to 2014, when 200 players went unsold, this time it was 50 or 60 who went unsold. Also, on day one 70 out of 110 were sold. So, we’re trying to reduce the number of unsold players and effectively manage time as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League will be held from April 7 to May 27 with the tournament opener and final to be played in Mumbai. The opening ceremony will take place in Mumbai on April 6. The schedule of the tournament is yet to be announced as broadcasters have proposed new match timings which have not gone down well with the franchises.