The Indian Premier League is easily one of the most followed cricket sports events worldwide. Last year, despite the challenges that COVID 19 brought to the sports industry, the IPL was still able to push through after it was postponed for a few months. Mumbai Indians got their fifth IPL title and fans were just happy to still witness the last season despite the health crisis.
With IPL 2020, people started to become confident that the next season of the league will take place. True enough, this year’s league is coming soon and the auction is just around the corner. Fans won’t have to wait longer for them to see their favorite IPL rivalry.
The Auction
Aside from the IPL matches, people are also looking forward to seeing this year’s auction. The IPL auction is an event when the teams involved in the coming season will be recruiting new players. Each team has a budget of 85 crores or around 12 million US dollars to complete their teams.
Beforethe auction, they also have the chance to retain the players who they would like to keep. They will also have to use their budget for this. Whatever is left is what they can spend to “buy” more players. These teams have their strategies and this is why the auction alone can be a great event.
This year’s auction will take place on February 18 and many are already guessing which team will be getting who. The registration for this year’s auction closed on February 4 and the total of players who signed up for it has been announced.
Based on the IPL site, a total of 814 Indian and 283 overseas players signed up this year. Here’s a look at how the auction registration went:
- 21 Capped Indian Players
- 186 Capped International players
- 27 Associates
- 743 Uncapped Indian players
- 68 Uncapped International Players
The number of uncapped Indian players who have been part of at least one match of any IPL season is 50. Meanwhile, there are only 2 overseas uncapped players who have played at least 1 IPL match.
Players Who Are Already Making Headlines
There are a few noteworthy players who have registered for the upcoming auction. Arjun Tendulkar is already drawing some attention and it’s not just because of his last name. Many have seen this player’s potential as a pacer and with that, multiple teams will likely be fighting for him.
English batsman Dawid Malan is also going to be a hot name at the auctions. With his masterstroke, he may become the richest IPL player this year. His price is already listed as Rs 1.5 crore. This is not far from the highest amount that players' base price can be which is Rs 2 crore.
Other players who might cause quite a bidding war during this year’s auction include Fabian Allen who is a strong batsman, bowler Jamie Overton, batsman Lendi Simmons, the third most-run scorer, Evin Lewis, and batsman Paul Stirling.
All-in-all, fans are looking forward to seeing how teams will bid against each other for certain players. This will surely cause more excitement for the upcoming fourteenth season of the league.
More Details on This Year’s IPL
We also don’t have to wait much longer after the auction as the season’s opening is tentatively scheduled to take place between April 11 to June 6, 2021. The first match is likely going to be between Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capital.
As of February 1, this season has no title sponsor yet. Last year, Dream11 was able to get the sponsorship only because mobile phone company VIVO decided to back out. This happening made the BCCI lose revenues and so for this year, they are careful in deciding on this matter.
However, some reports said how the BCCI is open to the return of VIVO as a title sponsor this year. Still, there is no official word from the league itself. Since up until today, a decision has yet to be made, there is a chance that there will be no title sponsor this year. It’s understandable as the BCCI is also being practical about this. They surely don’t want another major sponsor to back out all of a sudden that they resort to a cheaper contract.
There were reports that both VIVO and Dream11 were once again invited for the title sponsorship. However, it may still not be Dream11 because sources say that the company doesn’t want to pay a higher amount than what they paid last year. Whether VIVO will retain its 5-year contract with the IPL is still unknown.