Picture Credit: Twitter/BCCI
The upcoming IPL would be a 10-team affair, courtesy the announcement of two new entrants in the league early this week. While RP-Sanjiv Goenka group won the bid for team Lucknow, Ahmedabad was bought by the CVC Capital group in the teams' auction.
The entry of two new teams also assures that the upcoming auction, which is due to take place ahead of IPL 2022, will see a larger pool of players going under the hammer. According to the latest reports in the media, the established 8 IPL teams will be given an opportunity to retain a maximum of 4 players (3 Indian + 1 overseas or 2 Indian + 2 overseas). Meanwhile, the new teams will be given an opportunity to buy 3 players each (2 Indian + 1 overseas) before the mega auction takes place.
If you've a young, determined, capable kind of team it works: Sanjiv Goenka
Revealing the selection criteria of his IPL team Lucknow, owner Sanjiv Goenka stated that any player that is young and determined enough could make to the squad of the side. "I will build the team around a younger lot of players. If you've a young, determined, capable kind of team, it works," said Goenka to NDTV.
It is worth noting that the RPSG group won Lucknow in the auction at INR 7,090 crore against the INR 2,000 crore base price set by BCCI. "If you recall, RPS made had lost the 2017 final to Mumbai Indians so we have some unfinished business in the IPL," Goenka had told TOI after securing the ownership of Lucknow team. "This is just the beginning. The real intention is to build a team which can win the tournament," he had added.
No Right to Match card in IPL mega auction: Reports
Though there is no official announcement from the side of BCCI regarding the rules and regulations of the mega auction, the removal of Right to Match (RTM) card seems certain as per the reports that have come so far. Meanwhile, the purse money for each IPL franhcise at the mega auction is likely to be increased to 90 crore. Notably, the auction that took place ahead of IPL 2021 had a purse limit of 85 crore set for each franchise.