The schedule for the mega auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been finalised. It will be held on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore as per a report in Cricbuzz. It could well be the last mega auction that BCCI might conduct as most of the original IPL franchises want it to be discontinued.Most of the franchise owners feel that mega auctions have passed their sell-by-date and a team’s composition and balance gets severely compromised when there are auctions after every three years.Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal had in fact said this on record how it is tough to release players after having put in effort to build a team.
“It is very sad to lose Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada and Ashwin. The auction process itself is something like this. Going forward, IPL should look at this because it’s not that you build a team, give chances to young players, groom them and get them opportunities from franchises, play for the country and then you lose them after three years,” Jindal had said after players’ retention was announced November 30.This year’s IPL will be a 10-team affair with Sanjiv Goenka owned Lucknow franchise along with venture capital firm CVC owned Ahmedabad making their debut in the cash rich league. CVC is however waiting for its Letter of Intent from the BCCI but is expected to get an all clear in the next few weeks.Both teams have time till Christmas to announce their three draft picks but BCCI might extend the dates for both as CVC is yet to get clearance.
