The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League will be an interesting affair as two more teams from Ahmedabad and Lucknow have joined to participate in this mega cash-rich league. If reports are to be believed the auction for the 2022 IPL will be conducted in the first week of February. There has been confusion regarding CVC Capital Partner’s business interest who reportedly has investments in a UK betting firm. They bought the Ahmedabad franchise for a whopping 5625 crore.
BCCI is yet to submit the letter of intent to the new franchise but both the franchises will have sufficient time to set up their teams and they can retain three players from the player pool and will have a purse of 33 crores to spend on the retained players. They have to retain two Indian players and the retention window had already started from 1st December.
As per Cricket.com, “The IPL 2022 auction is all set to take place in the first week of February. The report also stated that it will be a two-day affair as it was in 2018 but the IPL GC is planning to make it a lot grander this time. Bangalore and Hyderabad have emerged as the two frontrunner cities for the IPL 2022 auction to be held keeping better screening process in mind.”
Bengaluru and Hyderabad are projected as the two possible venues for the mega auction and a decision could be reached this month. It is likely to be a two-day affair and it will be arranged in a grand manner as it seems.
When it comes to managing the team Lucknow has emerged as the most active franchise as they have already appointed Andy Flower as their head coach and former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir as a mentor.
Flower was working with Punjab Kings for the last couple of seasons but has now decided to take up a new challenge in his managerial career. A number of high-profile players will be in the auction and KL Rahul could be retained by Lucknow.
According to reports, Rahul could be leading the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise in the 2022 edition of the IPL. He was last seen as the captain of the Punjab Kings in the last IPL and will be handed the mantle this time.
Shreyas Iyer’s name has been linked with Ahmedabad and he could also be handed the captainship of the newest franchise. Ahmedabad could also target Hardik Pandya and David Warner who could be the hottest property in the auction due to his blistering form in the T20 format.
The auction could be watched live on the Star Tv network and can also be live-streamed on Hotstar. The fixtures are yet to be finalised but the tentative date of the commencement of the IPL is slated to be 2nd April with the first match scheduled to be held in Chennai.
With the existence of the Covid-19 pandemic, it remains to be seen whether the authority allows supporters or it continues to be held behind closed doors. The second leg of the last edition was successfully held in Dubai where Chennai had the last laugh after beating Kolkata Knight Riders in the final.
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