IPL mega auction is always a big topic of discussion as it gives every team the opportunity to rebuild their squad. Most of the world class players are always back in the mega auction and the teams, which struggled with their balance in the previous season, might assemble a strong group again.
Here are the 5 things you need to know about the next IPL mega auction –
1. Retention of the players
If the mega auction does take place, then all the teams will be allowed to retain a maximum of 3 players who have been a part of their squad in the previous season.
The first retained player will be signed at an amount of 15 Crore INR, the second retained player will get 12.5 Crore INR and the third one will get 7.2 Crore INR.
If the franchises want, they can negotiate the salaries with the retained players and if both the parties agree, the players can be signed at a lesser amount as well. However, whatever amount the players are retained for will be taken away from the overall budget of the franchise.
2. Right to Match Card
Apart from retaining three players directly, the franchises will have the option of using Right to Match (RTM) card in the auction as well where they can retain two more of their players, but for that, they will have to match the price at which the player has been sold in the auction.
For example – if somebody like Faf du Plessis isn’t retained by CSK directly, he goes into the auction and somebody buys him at a price of 5 crore INR in the auction. After that, CSK will have the option of retaining Du Plessis, but for that, they will have to pay 5 Crore INR from their budget.
3. Date of the mega auction
There is not too much time for the next IPL season to start now. Since the 13th season took place pretty late and finished in November, the next IPL season is only three months away. BCCI has already announced that the next IPL season will take place at its normal time slot of March to May.
For the next IPL season to start at its normal time slot, it’s obvious that the mega auction will have to take place at some stage in December or January.
4. Decision on an extra overseas player
Every franchise might be looking to buy a few more overseas players this time around as the significance of overseas players might increase in the league in the next season.
So far, only 4 overseas players are allowed in the playing XI in the IPL games, but there have been talks that BCCI is contemplating allowing an extra overseas player in the playing XI moving ahead as so many world class players keep warming the bench whole season just because of the 4 overseas player rule.
5. Ninth IPL team
The mega auction will get really interesting if the 9th IPL team is introduced. If the reports are to be believed, BCCI is serious about introducing another team into the league and the base of the new team might be Ahmedabad with the new Sardar Patel Stadium as its home ground.
Adani Group and the south Indian movie star Mohanlal are believed to be interested in buying the new team and if it does get materialized, IPL will be a much longer tournament from next season onwards.
