With the new year approaching fast and so is the mega-auction for the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League, things have started becoming clear now. After much speculations surrounding the player retention, auction and all, recent reports from the Press Trust of India suggest that the auction for the next season is scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.
Earlier reports had suggested that several franchises were keen on the auction being held in London but a senior BCCI official confirmed that the venue would not be changed, stating that the franchises were in support of holding the mega-auction at the venue which had held all the last ten auctions.
“Since most of the capped players will be back in auction, it will be a mega auction that will be held in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28. Since Bengaluru has been hosting all previous auctions, that was the choice of franchises,” a senior BCCI official said.
Meanwhile, the upcoming auction will be the biggest since the inaugural one in 2008 as all the franchises have been allowed to retain a maximum of five players from their existing squads through a combination of pre-auction retention and Right To Match (RTM) cards. As per media reports, the teams have been instructed to submit their retention lists by January 4 while the BCCI will reveal the list of the players who will be auctioned on January 18.
The auction for the eleventh season will see all the eight teams having an increased budget of Rs 80 crore from previous Rs 66 crore. The franchises can include a maximum of 25 players in their squad. Each team will have to spend at least 75 percent of the salary cap (INR 60 crore) by the end of the two-day procedure.
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