MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India will add a ninth franchise from Ahmedabad ahead of the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League, at least two newspapers have reported.
While the IPL Governing Council has not discussed the matter as yet, a formal announcement will be made in due course, New Indian Express reports.
The Hindu further reports that the motive behind the move “is to attain financial balance after the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown”. Public exhortations aside, a more plausible reasoning has both economic and political imperatives in play. With the Gujarat Cricket Association having refurbished the Motera Stadium (officially known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium) in Ahmedabad to hold a cricketing world record capacity of 110,000, AND Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay controlling the GCA, while also retaining his position as BCCI secretary (gratis the munificence of the Supreme Court), that the IPL’s ninth franchise will be based out of Gujarat’s financial capital is a given.
Linked to the addition of a ninth IPL team is the necessity to have a full-fledged player auction (the new team will need to be able to draw from a good enough pool of players), the dates for which will also be formally announced in due course.
The BCCI therefore, apart from informing IPL franchises to prepare for the player auction, has also informed them that from the next season a ninth team will be a part of world cricket’s most high profile annual tournament.
A franchise official informed NIE that the BCCI was initially looking at deferring the auction by a year, but since a corporate giant is keen on buying a team, it has become necessary to hold it. In this regard, SportzPower would be VERY SURPRISED if said franchise official was referring to any entity other than multinational conglomerate Adani Group.
“The BCCI has told us to be prepared for an auction in a couple of months. Though it is not official, that they have asked us to be ready means they will go ahead as planned. Moreover, with a new team coming in, it makes sense to have an auction now rather than deferring it by a year,” a franchise official told the daily.
While the auction can be taken as a given, what remains to be made clear are the modalities surrounding player retention. In the big auctions held earlier, teams were allowed to retain up to four players. A right-to-match card was also available.
“The retention policy should continue even if a new team comes in because at this stage, it won’t be wise to have all players in the auction pool. Teams will have to compromise on brand value which is built on their star players,” another franchise official told NIE.
