Allaying fears that the Indian Premier League may not take place as per schedule, the Board of Control for Cricket in India—currently led by a committee of administrators (COA)—announced dates of IPL auction and IPL franchise workshop.
The auction, which was scheduled to be held on February 4, will now take place on February 20 in Bengaluru. As per the release issued simply under the name of BCCI, the IPL franchises will go into the player auction with a maximum of Rs 143.33 crore purse for the 2017 season.
The teams can have a maximum of 27 players, including nine foreign players. A maximum of 76 players, including 28 from abroad, can be bought at the auction. The auction will be followed by a day long IPL franchise workshop on February 21.
The Supreme Court-appointed four-member met committee on Tuesday. In the meeting that lasted for eight hours, BCCI’s official in-charge of IPL Hemang Desai gave a power point presentation to the Vinod Rai-led committee. The nitty-gritties of the scheduling and organisation of IPL were worked out in the meet.
The ousted officials of BCCI have been allegedly creating the impression that the popular Twenty20 league would not happen due to absence of a full fledged board. For the COA too it will be a matter of establishing its credibility and ability in ensuring smooth running of cricket activities. The COA is well aware that its efforts could well be undermined by unhappy former board officials. “The BCCI and cricket is actually run by a full fledged team of professionals. With Ratnakar Shetty and N.V. Sridhar at the helm, cricketing activities will run smoothly,” said committee member and former cricket captain Diana Eduljee.
Former BCCI president Shashank Manohar too had said to THE WEEK that organisation of IPL was “a contractual obligation of IMG-Reliance,”—BCCI’s event manager.
As per the BCCI, so far, more than 750 players have registered for the Player Auction 2017. The deadline for player registration ended on Friday. The first IPL player auction in the year 2008 was also held on February 20, 2008.
Former England player Kevin Pietersen announced that he would not be participating in IPL this year. In a tweet, Pieterson said, “FYI-I won't be going into the IPL auction. My winter has been too busy with all my travel & I don't want to spend April/May away too!”
