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The 2021 IPL is going to be the fourteenth edition of the tournament. The tournament usually takes place in April-June window, and if circumstances permit, the schedule would be followed. Nevertheless, preparations for the cricketing extravaganza are already on the way and the IPL 2021 Auction date has already been confirmed by Board of Cricket Control in India.
The IPL Auctions are organised by the Board of Cricket Control in India or BCCI. On January 27, 2021, BCCI confirmed that the IPL Auctions would be held on February 18, 2021 at Chennai.
The auctioneer for IPL 2021 auctions is going to be Richard Madley. The 60-year-old has been standing behind the podium wielding the hammer for over a decade now. Nicknamed 'The Hammerman', Richard Madley hails from Wales. Richard began his career as a floor sweeper at the London Auction House. By the time he was 30, Richard was appointed to the Board of Directors. He also represented Wales in hockey as a junior player and played Surrey League cricket.
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The IPL 2021 Auctions are scheduled to take place on February 18, 2021, in Chennai. Earlier there were a lot of rumours regarding the IPL Auction dates. The date for the IPL 2021 Auctions was confirmed by BCCI on Wednesday, January 27.
The IPL 2021 Auctions would be held at Chennai. The venue was confirmed by BCCI after a lot of speculation.
During the IPL Auctions player contracts are put up for being purchased by different IPL franchisees. As per the IPL Auction rules, every player who is not a part of a team, or has not been retained by their previous season's team and wishes to participate in the tournament has to state their availability for the auction. A base price decides the minimum price for which a player could be purchased by a team.
The Auction takes place traditionally where each of the eight franchisees can bid for a particular player and the player's contract is awarded to the highest bidder. Every team has a set budget coming into the Auction, which is the maximum they can afford to spend. Also, every team can procure a maximum of 25 players in total.
The IPL Auctions is attended by all important authorities, owners and coaches from each of the eight franchisees. Team owners such as Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta who own Kolkata Knight Riders, Preeti Zinta who owns Kings XI Punjab, Neeta Ambani who owns Mumbai Indians usually attend the auction representing the respective franchisees. We also see head coaches such as Stephen Fleming, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and others often attend the auction.
Apart from the IPL team owners and the head coaches, team managers, bowling and fielding coaches and team administrators also attend the IPL Auctions. But all eyes remain fixated on the Auctioneer, Richard Madley.
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IPL Auctions are essential for IPL as it allows teams to restructure themselves and try in fill in for their shortcomings. At the same time it's an opportunity for performing players to bag a better contract and also play with different teams.
The main benefactors from the IPL Auctions are the uncapped and rising stars from domestic cricket. Not only from the Indian domestic cricket, but from all around the world. A young player who performed exceptionally well in the Big Bash League can also bag a million dollar contract at the IPL Auctions. So, in a way the IPL Auctions serves the purpose of talent hunt for raw and unrecognised talent and provides a massive platform to youngsters to make a reputation for themselves.
IPL Auctions are conducted every year. But, usually it is a mini Auction where every franchise retains most of its squad and are on hunt for a few players to fill specific positions. IPL Mega Auctions are the bigger Auctions where most of the players are released into the Auction pool and a lot of team rebuilding takes place. The Mega Auctions take place mostly every three years.
IPL Mini Auctions and IPL Mega Auctions are not different in their entirety. What is different is that in the IPL Mini Auctions, there is no limit on the number of players which could be retained by each of the teams. They can retain and release as many players as they want. But in IPL Mega Auctions, a maximum of five players can be retained by every team.
Check the updated list of all retained players for 2021 IPL.
In the IPL Mega Auctions, each team also gets two Joker or 'Right to Match' cards. Anytime they want to buy a player they have not retained, but who was a part of their last squad and has now been bought by another team, they can use the 'Right to Match' card and match the bid of the other franchise to buy that particular player for themselves.
The IPL Mega Auctions will be held before IPL 2022. According to reports, two new teams will join the tournament, making IPL a ten-team tournament. The date and venue of IPL Mega Auctions are yet to be discussed.
