The ongoing global Coronavirus outbreak has already affected the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 with the mega T20 event set to take place in the September-November window after it was postponed indefinitely in March and now the pandemic is likely to have an impact on the IPL 2021 too.
According to a report in Times of India, the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) is looking to postponed the mega-auction ahead of the IPL 2021 because of the lack of time for franchises to strategize for the big event and they would be expected to continue with their current squads.
With the upcoming IPL 2020 ending on November 10, the BCCI and franchises will have only four-and-half months to prepare for the mega auction and reassemble their squads from scratch, and begin with the next IPL 2021 which is set to take place in its usual time.
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It is being said that IPL franchises agree with the idea of no IPL auction for the 14th edition of the cash-rich tournament and now Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Venky Mysore has backed the idea.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Mysore stated: “I've heard that as well and it's not a bad idea to push it back by a year, considering we'll have such a short period of time between the finals this season and the start of the next edition in April-May. So it's not a bad idea but has to be thought through.”
He further added, “There are various other ramifications of what it may mean contractually for the players and whatnot, but the mega auction being pushed back has been done before when two teams were banned, the auction was pushed back by a year. So there is precedence to that. Whether this situation warrants that, let's wait and see, but it's not a bad idea for the moment.”
Noteworthy, the last IPL auction took place in December 2019, which was a mini affair with a total of only 62 players were sold from the 332 players as the franchises decided to fill few slots in their squads.
