The former opening batter of the Indian team has slammed a few of the franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) who want a mega auction ahead of the 2025 season despite being inconsistent since the beginning of the league. He felt that similar works never helped them in the previous seasons.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) met with the IPL team owners in a discussion to decide the fate of the auction before the new season and the number of retentions they want to have. A few certain franchises wanted to have a mega auction, while a few were against it.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra observed that most of the teams, who are yet to celebrate their maiden trophy in the tournament have only asked for the mega auctions.
“Some franchises say – ‘How will we win if you don’t allow the reset or reboot button to be pressed? Our team is not good currently, and we want to dismantle it totally.” The former Indian opener expressed in the video. “We might keep a few people and leave everyone else, and we want to start afresh. Otherwise, it’s unfair because you have to do a mega auction every third or fifth year.”
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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC), and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) are those sides who despite being in the league’s history from the very first editions, haven’t tasted the ultimate success. RCB reached the final in the 2016 season, where they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad, while the same fate took place for Delhi in 2020, and Punjab in 2014.
“It was heard that it was the Punjab team. It might be the Delhi team or the Bengaluru team because they have never won to date and if you do like this, they would never be able to win. The counterquestion to that is – You haven’t won even though it was happening every three or five years.” Aakash Chopra added.
“IPL won’t be interested at all”- Aakash Chopra
The veteran batter of the Blue Brigade also feared that if the mega actions kept on taking place every single season, then the teams wouldn’t be prepared and interested in investing in a player.
“You should have won, but since you have not won, you are slightly upset. Since you are upset, you want it to happen once again. If you keep playing auction-auction repeatedly, IPL (franchises) won’t be interested at all in investing in any player.” The renowned commentator highlighted.
In the recent IPL season of 2024, Faf du Plessis-led Bengaluru was knocked out in the eliminator by the Rajasthan Royals (RR), while Delhi and Punjab finished in the sixth and ninth position in the points table respectively.
Chopra also suggested that the mega auctions should be halted at some point in time to let the teams understand their players and put more time into them.
“Some franchises say – ‘Let’s invest, we should be made a part of it, we want to find, scout and invest, and it’s our responsibility to prepare players‘.” The retired Delhi batter shaded light during the video. “Then whether they find Ashutosh (Sharma) from somewhere or give opportunities to Shashank (Singh), there will be many such players who they want to find and invest in, and they need encouragement for that.”
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“There should be a time when you say that mega auctions should be done away with. Allow them to start building a team together. You might allow a squad of 25 only, but allow them to keep players with them for a long time.” The 46-year-old concluded.
The BCCI is likely to hold the mega auction before the IPL 2025 season, as the only decision they have to make is the number of players being retained or bought back through the RTM (Right to match) card.