Indian Premier League (IPL) added two new franchises, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, for the upcoming season. The new franchises are likely to go after big names like David Warner, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav if they don't find a spot in retention from their respective current franchises.
The new Lucknow IPL team was bought by RPSG Group for Rs. 7,090 crores and CVC Capital Partners made the winning bid for the Ahmedabad team of Rs. 5,625 cr.
There isn't an official confirmation from the IPL committee yet, but it is reported that the current 8 IPL franchises will be allowed to retain a maximum of four players and the two new franchises will be able to acquire three players from the rest of the player pool via drafts before the 2022 auction.
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In addition, franchises may not get right-to-match cards (RTM) at the auction like the previous mega-auction in 2018.
As per ESPNCricinfo, these were among the rules discussed informally this week between the IPL organizers and the franchises. The new franchise may get a combination of two Indian players and one overseas in their picks of a total of three players ahead of the auction.
However, it is still not clear whether these players will need to be picked strictly from the group of players not retained by the existing franchises, or can be from the larger auction pool — which will have new additions — ahead of the 2022 auction.
If the two new franchises are allowed to pick only from the group of players not retained by the other eight, then a player-draft system is likely to be put in place.
Some star cricketers will be up for grab in the drafts which will allow Lucknow and Ahmedabad to build a strong squad. They can also use popular players to attract a fanbase.
RP-Sanjiv Goenka group is a Kolkata-based business conglomerate and has business ventures across industries. In 2016, RPSG Group had entered IPL and bought the Pune franchise for two years.
They had failed to qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2016 under MS Dhoni, and that made a change in captaincy to Steve Smith in 2017. The franchise lost the IPL 2017 final against Mumbai Indians.
CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based private equity firm with interests and investments in various sports properties. The Ahmedabad team is CVC's maiden entry into IPL.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
