IPL 2018 auction likely to be held in Goa next month

The auction might happen in the last week of January next year.

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will return to IPL after serving their two-year termination

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the next edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) since it will mark the beginning of the new decade in the lucrative tournament and also for the first time, cricket fans will experience viewing it on a different channel – Star Sports.

Besides, the two controversial IPL franchise – Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings will return to the cash-rich event after completing their two-year termination. RR and CSK were barred from the IPL for the past two seasons owing to corruption and fixing allegations against their respective owners.

As per the reports in Hindustan Times, the mega-auction of the Indian Premier League will take place in the last week of January 2018. Goa is considered to be the most likely venue but provided the Christmas and New Year rush, the BCCI officials are having second thoughts about the venue.

Earlier this month, it has been announced that all the IPL franchises will retain a maximum of five players through a combination of pre-auction retention and Right To Match (RTM) cards. It meant that the 11th edition of IPL may also see the return of MS Dhoni for CSK.

“The player pool available for Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for retention/Right to Match will be the players’ who played for them respectively in IPL 2015 and who were part of RPS and Gujarat Lions squads in IPL 2017,” BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary had recently said.

In September, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a new television-rights deal worth nearly £2 billion for the for the five-year period (2018-2022) which meant that the team will earn approximately Rs 150-180 crore. Moreover, the IPL Governing Council has also hiked the salary budget of the franchises from Rs 66 crore to Rs 80 crore for the auction.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 18 Dec, 2017

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