Pune: The much-awaited auctions of the Indian Premier League will be held on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru.
A senior BCCI official confirmed the news. He said, “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.”
All the franchises in the auction this year will have an increased purse of ₹80 crore from the previous 66 crore. With two Right to Match (RTM) cards, five players in all can be retained by the each team. The BCCI, after an approval from Star Sports is likely to change the timinngs of the evening matches from 8pm to 7pm.
IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla in an IPL General Council meeting had first talked about the idea of changing the evening match timings, which was welcomed by all the franchises.
Also changes in the format of the tournament where like European football, team would be given a mid-transfer window so that a player, who has played two games out of seven could move to a different franchise have been approved by the GC.
Said Shukla, “It was just a thought (starting game at 7pm) and everyone welcomed it but first we need to speak to broadcaster and take their nod. We will work on modalities then. There have been many centers where traveling is major concern. All the issues were discussed and we all thought to start the game but early.”