Mega auction for IPL 2021 unlikely to take place

According to a report from The Times Of India, the BCCI have decided not to conduct the scheduled mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2021 owing to the lack of time due to COVID-19. With IPL 2020 ending on November 10, the BCCI will have only four-and-half months to the next edition, which is set to take place in its usual slot.

It has been decided that the mega auction, which will see each franchise retain three players and build their teams from scratch, will be postponed to 2022, ahead of the 15th edition of the IPL. The board intends to allot a similar window as this year, stretching over 50 days to host 60 matches and make up for what the stakeholders are losing out on this season.

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The report also stated that all the franchises have agreed with the board’s line of thought that there won’t be enough time and space available for teams to rebuild. The teams won’t have much time in their hands to plan for the auction and thus both BCCI, as well as the franchises, are on the same page regarding the mega auction.

“What’s the point in doing a mega auction now and not have enough time to plan it properly? IPL might as well go ahead and finish the 2021 edition of the tournament and then see how it wants to go about,” a source told TOI.

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The mega auction has been taking place once every three years. Usually, most franchises pick lesser players in their squad in the auction preceding the mega auction, which is a two-day affair. The auction for this year’s IPL saw Only 332 players go under the hammer, with 73 spots for the eight franchises. In the end, a total of only 62 players were sold in the one-day affair.